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UNITED STATES OF AMEKICA. 



THE LIGHT. 

A TREATISE 

ON 

Man's Nature when Created, 

AND THE 

DESIGN OF HIS CREATION 

AS' REVEALED IN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 



SHOWING — THAT THE LIVING MAN IS THE LIVING SOUL — 

THAT NO SOUL IS OF ITS OWN NATURE IMMORTAL — 

THAT DEATH IS NOT A MODIFICATION OF LIFE, 

BUT THE DESTRUCTION OF ORGANIZATION AND 

CONSCIOUSNESS — THAT NO SOUL CAN BE 

BOTH LIVING AND DEAD AT THE SAME 

MOMENT — AND THEREFORE, THAT 

MAN'S SALVATION DEPENDS ON 

A RESURRECTION FROM 

DEATH. 

ALSO — A REFUTATION, AND REASONABLE EXPLANATION OF 

ALL THE TEXTS COMMONLY QUOTED TO PROVE THAT 

THE SOUL HAS CONSCIOUSNESS IN DEATH — THE 

SCRIPTURAL PLAN OF SALVATION AND 

THE FINAL PUNISHMENT OF THE.. 



WICKED. 



; 



X 







BY JOHN HURLEY 




PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR AT 

168 BOWERY & \11\ EIGHTH AV., N. Y. 








/' 



»v 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

JOHN HURLEY, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States 
for the Southern District of New York. 



MILLER & HOLMAN, 

Printers and Stereotypers, N. Y. 



I * 






* 



£ PREFACE. 

t!5 . 

I believe it is customary, with those who write a book 
of any sort, to introduce it by a preface.- Some tell the 
general scope and design of the book, while others make 
a mere apology for their conscious intrusion on the 
public time and patience, and beg a general sympathy 
before they are read. I shall do neither the one nor 
the other ; but, instead, I will lay before the reader 
some strange things, the contemplation of which led 
me to write this book. 

I have no apologies to offer, nor favors to beg ; I 
have nothing to do with sects or parties. As a believer 
in God, and the revelation he has given, I advocate 
truth and oppose error. Both the preface and book 
will speak for themselves, and the reader must draw his 
own conclusions. 



STRANGE THINGS. 



(1) It is a strange thing that, while there is nothing 
in broad creation of so much importance to man as 
himself, yet of nothing, coming under his daily and 
practical observation, is he so ignorant as of himself ! 

But this is not new. It has long been so, and is 
likely long to continue ; because, few men are willing to 
seriously consider the origin of their own being — their 
true nature, and the laws by which their final destiny 
is governed. 

There is but one source whence man can derive 
reliable information respecting the origin and destiny of 
his own being — and that is the collection of inspired 
writings called, by way of eminence, the bible. With- 
out these writings, the world of mankind might drift, 
as the heathen in PauPs time did, tossed to and fro, 
by every fortuitous wind and wave, like a ship without 
rudder — influenced as they would be by the subtle 
schemes of cunning and crafty men, who, as then, 
would always plot snares to deceive them. — (See Eph. 
4 : 14.) 

(2) It is a strange thing, possessing the importance 
that the Holy Scriptures do, to meet persons who profess 
to believe every word they contain while they cannot 
give a rational explanation of any two consecutive 
pages in the whole book. 

All professing Christians admit the duty of obeying 
that command, c - Search the scriptures : for in them ye 
have eternal life, and they testify of me." — (John 5 : 
39.) They also admit the superlative advantages de- 
rived by all who diligently study the Scriptures, and 
they recommend all to study them carefully, assuring 



STRANGE THINGS. V 

them that they cannot fail to learn from them their duty 
both to God and man ; because they tell you, they are so 
plain that a wayfaring men, though fools, cannot err in 
them." — (See Isaiah 35 : 8.) 

(3) It is a strange thing, that notwithstanding the 
ease with which they tell one he may understand the 
Scriptures, yet, if he should ask them for the rational 
meaning of many passages that come in his way, they 
will tell him the Holy Scriptures are full of mysteries 
which no human intellect can possibly penetrate ; and 
that these passages are some of these mysteries, and 
therefore he is to pass them by, as he will find sufficient 
information on the question of salvation, from passages 
that can be easily understood. 

Now this common admission is not only in itself 
false ; but it is, in its effects, pernicious. It is false, 
because by diligent and pious perseverance the Holy 
Scriptures can be understood rationally, and found in 
perfect harmony with the laws of nature. It is perni- 
cious in its effects, because it is false. It represents 
God as requiring of man to do what cannot be done, 
and giving to his creatures a law by which their conduct 
shall be regulated, and for disobedience to which they 
shall be punished ; while the exact meaning of it is 
locked up in mystery and cannot possibly be under- 
stood. Such imputation is dishonoring to God, as no 
reasonable being would exact obedience to a law which 
cannot be understood. It disheartens the young Chris- 
tian, and prevents his study of the Scriptures, as he 
reasonably concludes that impossibilities cannot be 
overcome. It hardens the skeptic who, no less reason- 
ably, concludes that he is not under obligation to obey a 
law which he cannot possibly comprehend. 

(4) It is a strange thing, that a just Being should 
command men to go through all the world aud preach 
the Gospel to every creature, promising salvation to all 
that believe, and damnation to all who believe it not, 
unless the Gospel is adapted to the reasonable capacity 
of every creature. 

The fact, that the Gospel was not commanded to be 



VI PREFACE. 

proclaimed to any special class of men, but " to every 
creature throughout the world," and that every crea- 
ture, who hears, is responsible for rejecting it, is a strong 
presumption that every rational creature in the world 
Is capable of understanding it. 

The Gospel was not sent to the kings, princes, peers, 
noblemen, judges, doctors, or priests of any nation, 
but to ev s ery creature of all nations, and tribes, and 
tongues. No human being is either too high or too 
low to escape the penalties of the broken law, or to 
need the blessings of the Gospel ; and the commission — 
" Go ye unto all the world and preach the gospel to 
every creature, he that believeth and is baptized shall 
be saved, and he that believeth not, shall be damned" 
— (Mark 16 : 15, 16) — embraces every individual 
creature ; of the human family — and one reasonable in- 
ference is this : as every creature of the human family 
needs the blessings of the Gospel, and £s it is sent to all 
without distinction, therefore, all are capable of under- 
standing, believing, and obeying the precepts and com- 
mands of the Gospel. Indeed, in all reason and justice, 
a command rmplies the power both to understand and 
obey, otherwise it -would be mockery and tyranny to com- 
mand a man to do, and punish him for not doing, what 
he did not, and could not, understand, and therefore 
could not obey (!) * * * * * 

(5) It is a strange thing, to hear a man say that 
the Bible is a revelation of God's will to man, mean- 
while, denying the power of unaided reason to under- 
stand its meaning. But it is to be hoped that such a man 
is not aware he is, by these inconsistencies, impeaching 
the wisdom of God, in giving a law which, because it is 
inadapted to, is therefore inadequate to govern his 
creatures ! and also that he is not aware of the pre- 
sumption his arbitration in this respect implies — by 
pretending to know what the All wise God did not 
know, viz., that his intelligent creatures cannot under- 
stand the rule of government which he has furnished 
them. 

But some one will say, " God inspires certain men 



STRANGE THINGS. vii 



that they may be enabled to understand and explain 
the meaning of the Bible to others ; and the people can 
understand from such men what they cannot from the 
Bible itself." This impression is as erroneous as it is 
common. If it could be shown that any one of the 
present-day teachers is inspired of God to enable him to 
understand the meaning of the Bible, it would compli- 
cate rather than remedy the evil — unless it could be 
shown that they had received power to inspire all whom 
they undertook to teach ; for if divine inspiration be 
necessary to understand and teach what is already 
recorded, it is equally so necessary to enable a man to 
understand what is undertaken to be taught ; as the 
inspiration necessary to open the understanding of the 
teacher, is also necessary to open the understanding of the 
taught. Inspiration is given to reveal subjects or facts 
not hitherto known. The Bible is not a book of 
mysteries, but a book which contains the knowledge of 
divine things, revealed in as plain and direct a language 
as is possible for man to adopt or need. 

The Bible was all spoken or written by ordinary men — 
inspired of God in reference to the subject they revealed, 
but in delivering their message to the people, God did 
not speak for them ; but they were left to adopt, and 
they did adopt, such language only as they had at com- 
mand, and the people to whom they spoke readily under- 
stood. 

The knowledge of the truths contained in the Bible 
never did, and never will, fail to inspire the heart of 
every man who seeks to know and obey them. As the 
light of the sun is necessary to enable us to behold and 
admire the heavens, with the various objects that sur- 
round us — so is the light of revealed truth necessary to 
enable us to behold and admire the attributes and gov- 
ernment of God. But if the meaning of the language 
and writings of inspired men, as laid down in the Bible, 
cannot be understood by unaided reason, then there is a 
necessity of inspiring each individual to whom the Bible 
is presented before he is accountable for obedience to its 
commands and precepts. And forasmuch as the Holy 



Vlll PREFACE. 

Spirit understands the meaning of its own words, the pos- 
session of it in each individual would superseda the neces- 
sity of all human teachers. And not only so, but it would 
do away with the need of a Bible. For the Spirit that 
communicated the things written in the Bible to the 
men of old who wrote them, can infuse divine light into 
the minds of men now without the aid of a Bible. 

(8) It is a strange thing, if the common theory, that 
the Holy Spirit is necessary to enable us to understand 
the meaning of the Bible be true, that all believers do 
not understand the truths of the Bible alike. To insist 
that a writing given by inspiration can only be under- 
stood by the same inspiration that first communicated it, 
seems to me as reasonable as to say that, after a man has 
taken the trouble of writing to his servant or friend, he 
must carry the letter and read and explain it to those 
whom it was designed to instruct. To suppose that 
God should have caused the Holy Scriptures to be writ- 
ten, and command men to search and obey them, while 
he knew that they could not understand the meaning of 
one word till they were inspired, is among those strange 
things that are not new. 

(7) It is a strange thing, if the Holy Scriptures are 
not capable of inspiring men with love and zeal for God 
and heaven and humanity, that they should at all be giv- 
en : and if they are capable of doing all this, but cannot 
be understood without the aid of the Holy Spirit, then 
they are comparatively useless, and the question why 
they should have been given still remains unanswered. 
As the Spirit that must (according to the common 
theory) enable a man to understand them, can teach 
him the truths they contain without their instrumen- 
tality. 

(8) It is a strange thing, that if all Bible readers 
and professed believers are inspired of God, that they do 
not agree on all doctrinal points. It appears to me that 
if believers were inspired of the Holy Spirit they would 
need no human teacher, and they would have perfect 
harmony and mutual love ; but the fact, that so many 
professing Christians widely differ in reference to the 



STRANGE THINGS. IX 

meaning of the plainest and commonest precepts of re- 
vealed truth, is proof positive that none of them are 
inspire-:!, except by the spirit of the opinions which their 
parents and teachers impress on their minds in youth, 
and a farther proof that they do not derive their instruc- 
tions and religious opinions from a common source. And 
so emb3 ided are their superstitious notions in the brains 
of sora-, that it would require the direct operation of 
the Spirit of God to remove them. 

To such as deny the authenticity of divine revelation, 
we can only say, without it reason could never ascertain 
the source of man's original existence, neither could it 
offer the snadow of future hope. 

Eeaso ! could never deduce, and therefore never pro- 
claim the heaven-born intelligence — the dead shall rise 
again. . Hence, the most of the past and the whole of 
the future would be a total blank, and Atheism and con- 
sequent a larchy would blight and curse the present life, 
and shut oat from future hope the eternal destiny of man. 

But G • 1 has not left his reasonable and intelligent 
creatures thus to grope their way in darkness, ceaseless 
fear, con< -juent despondency and utter despair. He has 
given th j -Jible to aid and illuminate and be approved by 
the reason with which he has created man — and in pro- 
portion a- the Bible is reasonably examined, received and 
obeyed, in that proportion is God honored, loved and re- 
vered, an- i his Gospel has free course and is glorified : 
— while on the other hand, in proportion as the Bible is 
neglected >r shunued, because of its mysterious contents, 
so supposed, in that proportion will superstitious fears be- 
cloud the eason, and paralyze the mental faculties of man. 
And the reform of superstition by any other means than 
Scriptural knowledge and belief, must inevitably lead to 
Infidelity and Atheism. 

Infidel- re generally men of generous impulses, whose 
reason c aot allow God to be the tyrant that supersti- 
tious reli. mists represent him. 

Atheism is infidelity strip of its reason and humanity, 
and preset] lag the most pitiable, abject, and absurd speci- 
men of fallen man. 



X PEEFACE. 

The following, to be consistent, must be the Atheist's 
creed : 

(9) A STKANGE THING. 

Article I. I believe that there is no God, but that 
matter is God. And God is matter, and that it is no 
matter whether there is a God or no ! 

Art. II. I believe that the world was not made, that 
it made itself, and that it had no beginning, but it will 
last forever world without end. 

Art III. I believe that there is no religion, that natu- 
ral religion is the only religion, and that all religion is 
unnatural. 

Art. IV. I believe not in revelation, I believe in 
tradition. 

Art. V. I believe in all unbelief! 

(10) It is a strange thing, that any man should think 
there is no God, as it is opposed to reason and common 
sense. Yet the Atheist says, there is no God, no reli- 
gion, no hope, because there is no future life — all is vanity 
and vexation of his obdurate spirit. 

The Infidel says, there is a God, the Creator of 
heaven and earth and all things, but he has revealed no 
law, except the law of nature, wherewith to guide his 
creatures, and, like the Atheist, because he has no par- 
ticular belief in a future life, therefore he thinks God has 
no particular care as to how his creatures will conduct 
themselves in the present life, and so he would recom- 
mend, like his coreligionists of old, " Let us eat and drink 
to-day, for to-morrow we die," and that ends the account 
eternally. 

Now, by a few plain propositions which are self-evi- 
dently true, we shall endeavor to show that there is an 
all-powerful and all- wise Creator — and that his natural 
law of reason and supernatural law of revelation do 
mutually sustain each other in proclaiming his existence 
and righteous government, and that both are therefore 
of common origin — and from God. 

(1) It is unreasonable to say that matter does not 
exist. It is equally unreasonable to say that it does ex- 
ist eternally and independently of the Creator — and it is 



STRANGE THINGS. XI 

still more unreasonable to say that it constitutes the 
Creator himself. But it is not unreasonable to suppose 
its absolute creation out of nothing by an Almighty 
power. This Almighty Creator is the being whom we 
call God. 

(2) Reason says, if there be no God, then there can 
be no Creator, and if there be no Creator, then there is 
nothing created ; because, without a cause there can be 
no effect — creation is the effect of the Creator. If, there- 
fore, there is a creation, there must be a Creator ; but 
if there is no Creator, then nothing is in existence — 
even our very being is only imaginary, and what is still 
more absurd, there can be no imagination out of which 
an imaginary existence can be created ; for an imagina- 
tion implies an imaginer, or one who forms ideas. But 
our existence is not merely imaginary, it is real, and 
we ourselves are the proof of it. 

Now, the Bible teaches that there is a God, and a 
world which is peopled with living beings. Therefore, 
the Bible and reason thus far agree. 

(3) Reason says, nothing cannot produce something, 
but something is produced, viz., the surrounding hea- 
vens and atmospheric air, the sun, the moon, the stars, 
the earth, and ocean with their myriads of animated 
beings. Reason says, these things must have been 
produced by something, and that the producer must be 
greater than the produced ; or, in other words, the 
maker of the heavens and the earth must be greater 
than the heavens and the earth. The Bible says that 
God who made the heavens and the earth is greater 
than they ; that " heaven is his throne, and the earth is 
his footstool" * * * * * and that " the heaven of hea- 
vens cannot contain him." Thus reason says, the Bible is 
right, and the Bible says reason is right. 

(4) Reason says, it is impossible that anything 
which once had no existence could ever give existence 
to itself. But since there is a world inhabited with 
millions of beings which are born, grow, mature, decay 
and die, the world with its contents must have had a 
beginning, but whatever Being produced the world 



Xii PREFACE. 



could have no beginning. The Bible says, God the 
originator of the world had no beginning ; and thus, 
also, the Bible and reason do perfectly agree, * * * * * 

(5) Reason says, the nature of God must necessarily 
be spiritual and uncompounded, and therefore essenti- 
ally good. The Bible says God is a spirit, and that he 
is good — therefore, etc. 

(6) Reason says, that as a good cause cannot pro- 
duce a bad effect, therefore, God, as the primary cause, 
must have made man good. The Bible teaches that 
God made man originally good — therefore, etc. 

(7) Reason says, that as a man is a sinner, and sin is 
not good — therefore, God cannot be the author of man 
as a sinner. The Bible says, God and man as a sinner, 
are at enmity ; and in this also reason and revelation 
aoree. ******** 

(8) Reason says, that God, as man's Creator, being 
good, would, if possible, find out the most proper and 
perfect way of restoring them to the happiness and life 
they lost, and that with God this is possible. The 
Bible says, " God so loved the world, that he gave his 
only bego.tten Son," etc. 

(9) Reason says, if God knew a means by which 
to communicate to his fallen family the best rule for 
their government and means of their restoration, he 
would communicate it to them and as God is a spirit, 
the most reasonable mode of communicating his will to 
man is by the inspiration of certain men to teach and to 
prophecy. 

The B.ible says that, "no prophecy of the Holy 
Scriptures came by human invention — for the prophecy 
came not of old by the will of man ; but holy men of 
God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." 
As also— that "all scripture, given by inspiration of 
God, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correc- 
tion, for instruction in righteousness ; that the godly 
man may be perfected, thoroughly furnished unto all 
good works." 

(10) Reason says, that as the* perfect system of 
instruction contained in the Bible, and the creeds 



• • • 



STRANGE THINGS. Xlll 

and practices of the various sects now in existence pro- 
fessing the Christian religion are not necessarily identi- 
cal — and as the latter, in view of their disputings and 
imperfections, could not derive their origin from the 
former ; therefore, their errors, disputings. divisions, 
and imperfections are not chargeable on the Bible, as 
they have not derived their existence from it ; and, for- 
asmuch, as the Bible teaches that the time will, or 
should come, when men would not endure sound doc- 
trine, but after their own lusts would heap unto them- 
selves teachers, having itching ears, and would turn 
away their ears from the truth, and turn unto fables ; 
ever learning, but never coming to the knowledge of 
the truth ; because Babylon, the great mother of 
harlots and abomination of the earth, would fill them 
with the wine of her fornication ; therefore, in this as 
in all other respects, we see how exactly Reason and 
Revelation agree, and, therefore, we conclude that the 
Bible was not given to supesede or suppress, but to aid 
reason, and, therefore, we reasonably conclude that the 
Bible is the reasonable revelation of God to his 
rational creatures, and reason will ever bless God for the 
gift— the inestimable gift of the Bible. * * * * * 

The object of the following pages is to present the 
Bible doctrine of man's nature when created, and the 
design of his creation — also the Gospel plan of salvation, 
and final punishment of the wicked. 



INDEX. 



CHAP. PAGE 

Atheist's Creed — Preface x 

I. Creation of Man • 1 

Creation of Eve .....••• 3 

The Social Position of Adam and Eve while in 

the Garden of Eden 4 

How is Man the Image of God ? . . . 5 
How soon after his Creation Adam Sinned . . 8 
Adam's Freedom of Will .... 8 

The Law of Paradise 9 

The kind of Nature with which Adam was Crea- 
ted 10 

Immortality and Mortality Defined . . .11, 12 
II. Why Man did not Die the Hour he Sinned . . 15 

III. What Spirit Returns to God at Man's Death . 21-42 

Solomon's Account of Human Life and Death 24-31 
Was the Breath of Life a Rational Being before 

it was imparted to Adam . . . .31 

Man is not a Spirit 34 

Reason says the Spirit that Returns to God, at 

Man's Death, is no part of Man . . 35-42 

IV. The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus . . 43 
V. The Transfiguration of Christ .... 57 

VI. Christ on the Resurrection 68 

VII. Man's Earthly House, 2 Cor. v., 1 ... 78 

VIII. Peter and his Tabernacle, 2 Peter i., 13 ... 88 

The Use and Meaning of Language . . 95 

IX. Paul's Strait betwixt Two, Phil. 1, 23 ... 97 

X. To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise . : 111 

God's Plan of Redemption .... 119 

XI. Everlasting Punishment . 122 

How Christ will Destroy both Soul and Body in 

Hell 131 

First and Second Death Defined . . . 132 

XII. The Different Orders of Resurrection . . . 135 

The New Birth Defined 149 

XIII. The Retrogression of Human Life * . . 152 



THE LIGHT. 



CHAPTER I. 

MANS NATURE WHEN CREATED AND THE DE- 
SIGN OF HIS CREATION. 

Adam was not created with a soul, nor for a soul, neither 
was he created immortal ; but he was created a living soul, 

The account which Moses,. " the servant of the Lord," 
aided by divine inspiration, wrote and promulgated 
about two thousand years after Adam's creation, reads 
as follows : " And the Lord God formed man, of dust 
from the ground, and he breathed in his nostrils the 
breath of lives, and the man became a living soul" — 
Gen. 2:7. 

This statement is plain and definite, and as the work 
of the omnipotent Jehovah Elohim, it is very reason- 
able. The reader will observe, that the man did not 
receive a living soul, but the man made of dust became 
a living soul. Nothing seems to have been superadded, 
but God communicated life to the organized creature by 
breathing into his nostrils the nish-math chy-yim, the 
breath of lives. That is, the breath that animated every 
living, creature nish-math, breath, or respiration ; chy-yim, 
lives. This being breathed into the organized man, he 
became a nephesh chy-yah, creature of life, or living 
soul. 

The Hebrew word nephesh, translated soul, is as often 
rendered creature as soul, in the English Bible, and in 
many instances it is rendered body, and the peculiar dis- 
cretion, which the translators evidently observed in re- 
ference to this, and many other words, now does, and 






2 THE LIGHT. 

always must, cause much confusion to the careful, but 
illiterate reader. The fishes, and fowls, and everything 
that lives by breathing, are called in the Hebrew Scrips 
tures, nephesh chy-yah, as well as man ; but from the 
English translation no one can tell th^t fishes, birds, and 
creeping worms are living souls, yet the original Scrip- 
tures positively declare they are ; and because it is said 
God breathed into Adam's nostrils " the breath of 
lives," some men contend that, therefore, every man has 
dwelling in him a conscious, rational, immortal being, 
which, they say, was superadded at his creation ; but 
this is more than any one can reasonably infer from the 
words of revelation. 

Nothing seems to have been superadded to the organ- 
ized man but life, which is not a being in, or of itself, 
but the power of animation ; but while the function 
of life pertains to every living creature, it does not con- 
stitute the identity or individuality of any creature to 
which it belongs, and its continuance in any organized 
being depends on certain laws — especially breathing 
the air, and circulation of blood, etc. : for no creature 
made to breathe can live without air. The statement of 
divine revelation corroborates this fact : " God formed 
man of dust from the ground, and he breathed into his 
nostrils the breath of lives, and the man became a living 
soul." How natural and easy of comprehension ? 

This was agreeable tto God's design and in harmony 
with his general plan and usage in the order of crea- 
tion : for in all the operations of Almighty power, 
there is order and adaptation. Hence, we read that 
every plant of the field, and every green herb was made 
before they grew — Gen. 2 : 4, 5 ; they had form and 
consistence before they were put in the ground, from 
whence they were to receive the element of life and 
nourishment peculiar to them — -just so man in like man- 
ner ; he was formed, organized and adapted for life, be- 
fore God brehated into his nostrils the breath of lives, 
and he became a nephesh chy-yah, a creature of life. 

The garden of Eden was prepared as the royal resi- 
dence of man, where everything that was delightful to be- 



man's nature when created, etc. 3 

hold and good for food, grew spontaneously under divine 
cultivation, as a type of what the whole earth should be- 
come, through man's skill and cultivating care. In this 
garden, G-od caused every living creature under heaven 
to pass in review before Adam, that he may know them 
all to be creatures of God, and see that among them 
there was none equal to himself, " but for Adam there 
was not found an help meet:'' Created with an affec- 
tionate and sociable nature, he required a companion 
with whom he could share these affections freely, but in 
a whole planet, peopled with good creatures, there was 
found among them all not one to supply this want. 



THE CREATION OF EVE. 

" And Jehovah Elohim said (it is) not good the man 
should exist in his separation. I will make for him an 
assistant, suitable to him* (this is strictly the meaning 
of the original), and the Lord God caused a deep sleep 
to fall upon Adam, and he slept : and he took one of 
his ribs, and closed the flesh instead thereof. And the 
rib which the Lord God had taken from Adam, made he 
a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam 
said, this now is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh, 
she shall be called woman, because she was taken out 
of man ; therefore, shall a man leave his father and 
mother and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be 
one flesh * * *. And God blessed them, and God said 
unto them, be ye fruitful and multiply, and replenish the 
earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of 
the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every 

* The idea conveyed in the Hebrew text is, that God hav- 
ing seen that it was not good the man should "he in his 
separation," that is, alone or by himself, without any other 
creature of his kind, he said. I will make him a help suitable 
to him — not to help him in digging, and plowing, and making 
a living, merely, as some unwisely imagine ; for man in that 
state did not get his bread by his labor ; but one of his own 
species or kind, who would help him to procreate their like 
on earth. 



4 THE LIGHT. 

living thing that creepeth on the face of the earth." — 
Gen. 2 : 18, 24 ; 1 : 28. 

I have quoted these passages in this order, both to 
arrange their historical account, and show what the en- 
dowments and requirements of man were, together with 
the adaptation and true character of his nature, in the 
day he first exercised the functions of life and 
thought. 



THE SOCIAL POSITION OF ADAM AND EVE IN THE GARDEN 

OF EDEN. 

The general account of Adam's creation goes to 
show that he was formed with social and domestic affec- 
tions, exquisitely tender ; for he and Eve were beheld of 
God as " very good." He was free from the seed of 
any bodily infirmity, knowing neither languor nor pain. 
Every object around him was dressed in all the freshness 
of youth and beauty, as they came from the hands of 
the Creator, richly calculated to delight his senses and 
exhilarate the joy of his serene mind. Everything was 
in harmony and order. Peace within, joy and beauty 
without, accompanied, too, as he was, with one who re- 
sembled himself in nature, form, and symmetry of parts, 
and with equal mental endowments. Thus affording 
free scope for the exercise of his distinguished faculties, 
and intellectual intercourse, and eminently calculated to 
awaken and draw forth the tender sensibilities of his pure 
heart. 

How dignified and exalted the position of man in the 
garden of paradise ? Placed as lord of this creation in 
the fairest and loveliest spot of all the earth, where na- 
ture, adorned in all her primitive beauty and loveliness, 
appeared but to charm his ravished senses ; yea, even to 
that degree, that when God beheld, he pronounced it 
"'very good" Surrounded with every comfort and con- 
venience, holding direct communion with God, in whose 
goodness and wisdom he confided for present direction 
and future support; and knowing neither evil nor 
fear. 



man's nature when created, etc. 



IN WHAT RESPECT DID ADAM BEAR THE IMAGERY LIKE- 
NESS TO GOD ? 

This living creature was adapted to all the purposes 
of his creation, which are thus plainly indicated — " Let 
us make man in our image, and according to our like- 
ness." He was to be made, then, in the image of God. 
Bat God is a spirit, and man is material, and as there is 
no analogy between spirit and matter, as regards shape 
or form, therefore, Adam's likeness to God did not con- 
sist in figure of body or symmetry of form. 

God, as a spirit, must be illimitable as to location ; as 
an all-present being, he must fill boundless space. His 
attributes of Omnipresence, Omniscience snd Omnipo- 
tence, require that he must be perfect in all parts of the 
universe at once. And, being absolutely perfect every- 
where, he can make of himself as many bodily manifest- 
ations as he pleases, and while each would be as perfect 
a manifestation of himself as Christ was, jet they could 
neither diminish or detract from the powei or perfection 
of the perfectly absolute Jehovah Elohirn; neither can 
any manifestation, in reference to shape o* form, repre- 
sent an illimitable spirit ; neither is it possible for God 
to manifest himself, in the fullness of his leing, to finite 
capacity, because no finite creature can comprehend an 
infinite beiug. All forms are circumscribed by outlines ; 
but God, in the absolute sense of the term, cannot be 



n the proper 
of shape nor 



circumscribed by outlines, and therefore, 
sense of his being, can have no likeness 
form. The idea of an illimitable form or inage, is illimit- 
able nonsense. Christ, when arguing wth the Jews, 
said : ' Ye have neither heard his (God^ voice at any 
time, nor seen his shape." And, on another occasion, he 
said : " No man hath seen God at any time" Thns did 
the Saviour convey to the understanding o? his hearers 
the truth, that God is not an object of sense, and that 
he can only be seen intellectually. But man is ever- 
more an object of sense, as bodily organization is essen- 
tial to his being ; man never did, and never will exist 



THE LIGHT. 

without bodily organization. It is evident, therefore, 
that it was not in his corporeal shape or form that Adam 
bore the imagery likeness to God. 

Neither was It in reference to a " state of perfect 
holiness/' in which some think Adam was created, 
that he was the image of God. All that in truth and 
reason can be said of Adam, in reference to that, is that, 
like all otiier living creatures as they came from the 
hand of God, he was, as the Hebrew has it, tov-meaod, 
that is, very good ; which means neither more nor less 
than that he was perfectly adapted to the end for 
which he wis created, and that he was free from all 
guile. 



It was in his mental constitution and governmental 
capacity that Adam bore the imagery likeness to God. 

No other earthly being was made with such mental 
constitution aid force of character as man. And the 
requirements of Jehovah, after Adam's creation, imply 
consciousness of moral force and mental energy. He 
was to have obminion over the fish of the sea, and over 
the fowl of tie air, and over all the earth. He was 
constituted tht head of this creation — the ruler over all 
animated nature. 

To exercise these functions of sovereignty, superiori- 
ty of station, with ample knowledge, was given him. 
This was necessary, as otherwise, his authority would 
be exercised i^norantly, unjustly — nay, cruelly, and con- 
sequently, tha creation, which God beheld as very good, 
would be a sc»ne of confusion and ill-government — in- 
consistent witi the character, dignity, and goodness with 
which he intended it. Accordingly, we find God adapt- 
ed man to tie end for which he designed him. God 
required inteligent and willing obedience from Adam, as 
also a wise aad well-informed administration of his gov- 
ernmental capacity, and it was in the discharge of these 
functions that he was to exhibit the image and likeness 
of God, 



man's nature when created, etc. 7 

He had received ample intellectual knowledge.of the 
nature of the vegetable kingdom ; for every seed-bearing 
plant, and every fruit-bearing tree, on the face of the 
whole earth, was assigned him for food. 

The whole range of the animal kingdom was grasped 
by his mental power. He intelligently knew and un- 
derstood the natural history of animals : whether beasts, 
fishes, insects, or reptiles, of whatever thing that had 
life : for he gave names to the whole of the fowls of 
heaven and beasts of the earth ; and the names that he 
gave them were approved of by Jehovah, because the 
name which he called each animal distinguished its pe- 
culiar species : hence, " whatever name Adam called 
every living creature" {kol nephesh chy-yah — every crea- 
ture of life, or living soul, as the Hebrew original has 
it) that was the name thereof." That was the name 
it should have, because it was the name which the na- 
ture of the creature demanded, and which rightly be- 
longed to itself alone. 

The mineral kingdom, also, was open to his vision ; for 
he was to replenish the earth and subdue it — which re- 
quired ample skill and knowledge, especially of the ope- 
rations of the atmospheric influence, as this is necessa- 
ry to bring the earth into subjection. 

The broad ocean, as to the nature of its inhabitants, was 
also known to him ; for the fishes of the sea were under 
his dominion. Xow, to understand and govern the 
whole of this planet, required eminent intelligence and 
great physical energy ; and Adam's bodily organization 
was capable of developing both to an incredible ex- 
tent. 

As the supreme and intelligent ruler of the whole 
earth, Adam did represent God as the Ruler of the uni- 
verse. Adam's paradise in Eden bore an imagery 
likeness to the celestial abode in the universe, where the 
visible manifestation of the Divine glory is perpetually 
displayed. The Hebrew Scriptures teach that he was 
placed in Paradise to protect and defend it, and to ad- 
minister the law that should govern its inhabitants, and 
provide for their general wants — and in this respect, 



8 THE LIGHT. 

also, did he represent the Great Administrator and Uni- 
versal Protector. 

Thus we see, that the image and likeness to God, 
in which Adam was created, had reference to the au- 
thority with which he was invested, and the felicity 
which was suitable to his nature and circumstances, and 
which he was perpetually designed to enjoy. 



HOW SOON AFTER HIS CREATION DID ADAM SIN ? 

As to how long Adam maintained his integrity after 
his creation, I will not attempt to define. Neither shall 
I stop to notice the many vain speculations of some who 
have pretended to know all about it. Some would have 
us believe that he sinned the very hour in which he was 
created — others, the same day — while others fancy he 
lived many years in Paradise before, as they think, " his 
passion for Eve must have led him to sin." Truth gene- 
rally lies between two extremes. It is as unlikely that 
Adam sinned the very day on which he was created as 
that he lived many years in the enjoyment of Paradise 
before he sinned. 

After his creation, Jehovah Elohim said to Adam, 
" Of every tree of the garden thou mayest eat, but of 
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt 
not eat of it ; for in the day of thy eating thereof" — 
" moth ta-mooth" dying — thou shalt die." The rational 
inference from these words would lead us to some time 
subsequent to the day of his creation. But be that case 
as it may, one thing is definitely settled by this passage, 
viz. : adam's freedom of will. 

While created the monarch of the whole earth, yet he 
held his position as the representative of God's universal 
monarchy. He was under the moral government of 
God ; but while his mental faculties and affections were 
all to be exercised in accordance with the Divine will, 
yet his was to be voluntary obedience. His will 
must have been free, otherwise his service could not be 



MAN S NATURE WHEN CREATED, ETC. 9 

reckoned obedience. Freedom of will is necessary to 
freedom of choice. The latter implies the former. Free 
will implies that, of tivo objects presented, a person may 
and has power to choose one and reject the other. Now, 
if by any law of his nature or creation, Adam were so 
restrained that of two objects he was compelled to 
choose one in preference to the other, then he was 
not free in the sense which this term implies and is un- 
derstood. 

Bat Adam was not so restricted. He was a free 
agent, and, therefore, a proper subject of command. Ac- 
cordingly, he was placed under the law of his Creator, 
the knowledge of which was intuitively infused into his 
mind, so that he could not possibly forget or misunder- 
stand his duty and obligations. They are mistaken who 
think Adam had to learn everything by observation 
and experience, as our children do. Adam was not 
created a child. 



THE LAW OF PARADISE. 

The primitive law of Paradise, under which Adam 
was created, was simple and easy of comprehension, and, 
considering the perfection, both of his moral and physic- 
al constitution when created, it was easily obeyed. It 
consisted of two parts, namely, what was required and 
what was forbidden. 

(1.) First, what was required : He was to defend and 
keep the garden of Eden. He was to eat the fruit 
which its delightful trees spontaneously produced. He 
was to love Jehovah Elohim with all his heart. This, 
as we are informed by Christ, Mat. 22 : 38, was the first 
and great commandment, i. e., first in point of time and 
first in magnitude. 

(2. ) Second, what was forbidden : There was one tree 
in the midst of the garden, the fruit of which he was 
not to eat. This was the test of his obedience, and on 
the observance of which depended his continued exist- 
ence ; for God declared that, in the day he would eat of 



10 THE LIGHT. 

that tree, "dying thou shalt die." Not that he must 
die on the very day he would sin, as many foolishly 
contend for. The text demands no such conclusion ; and 
we shall, in its proper place, show that, in such case, the 
literal fulfillment of God's warning would be destroyed. 
The meaning, the original Hebrew conveys, is this : 
That from the moment Adam and Eve partook of the 
forbidden tree — the seed of death — which their disobe- 
dience should plant in them, would commence its retro- 
grading process, and issue in their dissolution — " moth 
ta-mooth — dying thou shalt die." This leads us to 
consider 



THE KIND OF NATURE WITH WHICH ADAM WAS CREATED. 

And to begin with, we infer from the inspired account, 
that he was created neither with a mortal, nor yet with 
an immortal nature. That is, he was not created to 
die, nor yet so that he could not die. If he were creat- 
ed to die, then his death would not have been made the 
consequence of his transgression, " In the day of thy 
eating, dying thou shalt die." And if he were created 
immortal, then he certainly could not die. 

Some think because God breathed into Adam's nos- 
trils the breath of lives, that he was, therefore, created 
immortal. The error lies in attributing immortality to 
mere life. They define immortality, " life without end — 
life continued,'" etc. Thus making that, which is the 
result of immortality, to be immortality itself. This is 
as sensible, as to assert that the effect is the cause. 
Others say Adam's immortality was conditional on his 
obedience. That, so long as he continued obedient, just 
so long he was immortal, but the moment he disobeyed, 
that moment he lost his immortality. This evidently is 
but a second edition of the above theory, and the latter 
is as foolish as the former. A third party think he 
was created with " a mortal body and an immortal soul" 
while a fourth party hold that the breath which God 
breathed into his nostrils was a part of God himself, 



man's nature when created, etc. 11 

and that this is what gave him life or soul, and that this 
life, soul, or spirit, can never die — hence, the common 
but unscriptural phrasiology, 4 ' immortal soul, and the 
never-dying soul" 

What I have here mentioned, embodies the common 
belief of those who are called orthodox or sound in 
faith. Ask any of them, Do you believe man dies, sir ? 
" yes. of course I do." What makes you say, then, 
that man goes to heaven in death ? "I mean his soul 
goes to heaven ; for I believe that immortal spark, that 
was breathed into man in Paradise, can never die." And 
in the next breath, they'll tell you this spark is the soul, 
and the soul is the man, which reduces the subject to 
this point, the man cannot die; and, if so, then Satan was 
truly orthodox in contradicting God, and saying to 
mother Eve, " ye shall not surely die, but ye shall be 
as Gods." God said to Adam, that, in the event of his 
disobedience, he would die. Satan said no — Adam might 
disobey and not die. Thus, he not only belied God, but 
also deceived man, by falsely representing to him, that 
he was in his nature immortal, and therefore, could not 
die. God is true, but Satan is a liar ; for the Adam 
that God created did sin, and that which did sin, did 
most assuredly die. 



IMMORTALITY DEFINED. 

In reply to the fore-mentioned theories, I remark that 
the attribute of immortality is something above mere 
life. It is an attribute or principle of nature on which 
depends the continued existence or deathlessness of 
man. Immortality of nature implies necessary exist- 
ence. It is a state of existence which death cannot 
possibly reach or affect — a state in which death is not 
known. Nothing is, of its own nature, immortal but 
God. Neither can anything possess immortality but 
that to which the nature of God is imparted, and the 
being, to whom the divine nature is communicated, and 
is, by consequence, immortal, can neither sin nor die ; for 



12 THE LIGHT. 

immortality, being an attribute of Deity, precludes the 
possibility either of sin or death. If, therefore, Adam 
were created immortal, he could neither sin nor die. 
Again, as immortality is an eternal principle of nature, 
having reference to the past as well as to the future, 
and as no creature is of eternal existence, therefore, no 
creature is, by virtue of its creation, or own nature mere- 
ly, immortal ; for the continued existence of any crea- 
ture depends on the power and will of Him that gave it 
existence ; as the power that created is necessary to sus- 
tain, and can also destroy. Nothing can have eternal 
existence that is contrary to the nature and attributes of 
God. To say that it can, is to suppose that God would 
create eternal opposition to himself, or that opposition 
to his nature, attributes, and government having once 
arisen, he could never put an end to it ; either of which 
notions is absurd. That Adam was not created immor- 
tal, nor yet made immortal after his creation, must, in 
my opinion, appear self-evidently plain to the reader. 

If mere life constitute immortality, then every crea- 
ture, possessing conscious existence, is immortal while it 
lives ; but to this, the advocates of natural immortality 
will not consent, though their theory would go to es- 
tablish it. We have seen that Adam's life was condi- 
tional on his obedience. " In the day of thy eating, 
dying thou shalt die," but immortality, if possessed, is 
not conditional on anything, but implies life absolute, 
unconditional, and eternal. That Adam had not uncon- 
ditional life, is evident from God's warning to him after 
his creation ; therefore., Adam was not created im- 
mortal. 



MOKTALITY DEFINED. 



Xow then, if he were created with a mortal or dying 
nature, then the saying that he was " tov-meod," very 
good — could not be true, as a creature possessed of mor- 
tality is not, in any proper sense of the term, good, much 
less is it very good. But God said that Adam was very 



MAN S NATURE WHEN CREATED, ETC. 13 

good, therefore, lie was not created with a mortal na- 
ture. A mortal nature is a dying nature, that is, a cor- 
rupt nature— a nature which is not capable of continued 
existence by the laws of its own being. The pri mary and 
simple meaning of mortality is death. A mortal nature 
is, therefore, a dying nature, and a dying nature is not 
good. Now, if Adam were created with such nature, 
the warning, " In the day of thy eating, dying thou 
shalt die," would be meaningless, as he would die whe- 
ther he ate or not ; but this warning places the matter 
beyond the reach of successful cavil, and it conclusively 
shows that his own act caused the dying process, which 
finally ended his life. 

Once more. If Adam were created immortal, he 
would not need the tree of life, the use of which, evident- 
ly, was to prevent his death by accident, during his state 
of innocence ; because, when he sinned, he was turned 
out of Paradise, " Lest he put forth his hand and par- 
take of the tree of life, and live forever" in his state of 
guilt and sin. We conclude, therefore, that Aclam was 
created neither mortal nor immortal ; that is, he was 
not created with a dying nature, such as his sin trans- 
mitted to his children, neither was he created with a 
nature in which it was impossible to either sin or die 
for sin. 

Adam was created with every capability of the most 
exalted nature ; for God having tested his intelligence 
and wisdom in the first exercise of his sovereign 
authority (in reviewing and giving names to the cattle, 
etc.,) pronounced it perfect in the words, " very good ;" 
but the fact of his being created with perfect faculties, 
fully developed, and his clearly understanding the nature 
and end of all terrestrial objects, only proves, beyond 
the possibility of extenuation, the guilt of his trans- 
gression ; for he had full power to obey God ; perfect 
freedom of will, as to his eating or not eating of the 
forbidden tree. But the perfection of his organization, 
the greatness of his mental energy, the exalted nature 
of his moral powers — any — all — nay every faculty and 
power of his mind, reason and intellect did not, because 
2 



14 THE LIGHT. 

it could not, argue him immortal. His being made a 
nephesh chy-yah, a creature of life, or " living soul," 
and God having breathed into his nostrils the breath 
of lives, does not argue him immortal, because God said 
to him, " In the day of thy eating, dying thou shalt 
die' 1 

An immortal, undying being could no more under- 
stand such warning, than he could appreciate the good- 
ness of Him who gave the tree of life to protect his in- 
nocent nature from death. The reasonable, in fact, the 
only inference that we can draw from God's charge to 
Adam, is this, that life being now given him, his organi- 
zation being perfectly developed and adapted to the 
end for which he was created, so long as he continued 
obedient, so long would he enjoy the functions of life and 
thought, with sovereign authority over the whole earth ; 
but in the day that he would disobey God, by eating of 
the forbidden tree, in that day he would lose all right 
and title to life and sovereign authority, and no longer 
answering the end of his being in such condition, dying 
he must die. 

To a reasonable unbiased mind, there is nothing in 
Adam's history that indicates the immortality of any- 
thing that constituted a part of his individual being ; 
but, on the contrary, the Bible statement of his crea- 
tion leads to the conclusion that, having disobeyed the 
command of his Creator, and, consequently, fallen from 
the position in which he was placed, and for which he 
was intended, he was no longer entitled to the life and 
prerogatives bestowed, and, therefore, must return to 
the element from which he was created, namely, dust of 
the ground, and the manner in which this was brought 
to pass is plainly indicated in the words, " dying thou 
shalt die." 



CHAPTER II. 

WHY ADAM DID NOT DIE THE VERY HOUR 

HE SINNED. 

Haying shown that the image and likeness of God, in 
which Adam was created, consisted not in figure nor shape, 
bat in his mental constitution and governmental capaci- 
ty — his wisdom and power to govern the whole earth, 
as representing the universal dominion of God. That, 
in his organization and mental capacity, he was pecu- 
liarly adapted to the end of his creation — that he was, 
morally and physically, free, from the fact of his being 
placed under law, the violation of which involved his 
death. " In the day of thy eating, dying thou shalt die." 
That, in the constitution of his nature, there was no 
principle nor law that would, without violence, cause his 
death, nor yet preclude the possibility of death, and, 
therefore, that he was neither mortal nor immortal. 
That, neither from the Bible account of his creation 
and subsequent history, nor yet from any reasonable 
source of information, can it be shown that there was any 
entity, or being, such as " the soul" is commonly under- 
stood to mean, superadded to the man made of dust ; 
that the superior development of his moral and physic- 
al powers was owing to his peculiar organization, 
which, in the creative wisdom of God, was adapted to 
the eminence of the position which he was to occupy on 
this earth. That life is a state of conscious existence. 
That death is a state of unconsciousness and non-exist- 
ence, being the opposite to life, not a change of state in 
continued existence, as many vainly endeavor to prove. 

That death, as the wages of sin, is caused by the sus- 
pension of the faculties upon the operation of which life 
depends, viz., breathing and circulation of blood, etc. 



16 THE LIGHT. 

That the living soul is the living man, and cannot be living 
and dead at the same moment, and that man, in the 
state of death, exists only in the purpose of God, who, 
by a resurrection from death, will restore to every hu- 
man being the life that he lost through Adam's sin, and 
reward or punish each, according to his revealed pur- 
pose. 

I will now consider some objections as to why Adam 
did not die on the very day he first sinned. 

Some contend, because Adam did not die the very day 
he sinned, that, therefore, the death involved through his 
eating the forbidden fruit was not physical, but spiritual. 
They base their notions on these words : " In the day 
that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" — Gen. 2 : 
17. That the reader may see the fallacy of this theory, 
I will here give the identical words, in the original He- 
brew, with their meaning : " By-yom a-chal-le-ka mim- 
men-noo moth ta~mooth" In the day of thy eating, dying 
thou shalt die. This is the literal meaning of the He- 
brew original, aud it is easy for any one that chooses to 
understand, to see from it, that the day of Adam's eat- 
ing of good and evil commenced with the day of his 
transgression, and ended with the day of his death — or, 
that from the very moment of his transgression, he was 
" dying to die." 

Now, be it remembered, that, if Adam had been put 
to death in the day (of twenty-four hours) that he eat 
of the tree, the literal meaning of God's warning to 
him would be entirely destroyed, because the text does 
not demand that, on that very day, Adam must posi- 
tively die, but, that on that day, the cause of his death 
must commence. God told him that dying he would die. 
Had he died within twenty-four hours of his transgres- 
sion, either the food must have poisoned him, else some 
other violent mode must be resorted to, in order to 
accomplish his death, which would be manslaughter, 
rather than a natural consequence of his sin. as God 
said would follow, in the event of his transgression. 
The most natural meaning of the passage is this : By a 
retrogressive state of nature, which his sin would intro- 



WHY ADAM DID NOT DIE, ETC. 17 

duce, Adam must eventually die. While the state' in 
which he was created did not preclude the possibility 
of his death — yet, protected by the fostering care of 
God, and under the shadow of the tree of life, there was 
no danger to be apprehended ; but once he lost that 
peculiar protective care under which he was created, 
and which his obedience and innocence would constantly 
secure, and driven from the shelter of the tree of lives, he 
was liable, any moment, to die either by accident or dis- 
ease, and thus abandoned, the literal meaning of the 
text is both easy and natural — " Dying thou shalt 
die." 

A man is literally dying when he is any moment lia- 
ble to die ; and this was the case with Adam every mo- 
ment after he had sinned ; and it shall be the condition 
to the end of time with every one who came from 
Adam's loins. The apostle Paul said he died daily for 
preaching the doctrine which was the faith of the Co- 
rinthian church, viz., the resurrection of the dead. JSTow, 
no one believes that Paul died every day, but because he 
was daily in danger of being put to death for preaching 
that dead men should be brought to life again, he called 
it dying daily, to give intensity to the imminence of his 
peril. If Adam had been cut off on the very day he 
sinned, God's warning to him would not have its natural 
and proper fulfillment, as there would be no evidence 
that his sin would have produced any other evil than 
that of prQvoking " the vengeance of God," as it is 
falsely supposed it did. 

The general idea of religionists is, that God is very 
angry with sinners — hence their efforts, by prayers and 
penitent weeping, to reconcile and win his affections. 
They judge of God by their own passions, and this leads 
them to suppose the warning was not fulfilled in its liter- 
al meaning, because God did not kill Adam on the very 
day he transgressed — for he lived 930 years after 
he had sinned. But, so far from God's committing any 
violence on Adam, or being in the least angry with 
him, his condition rather excited the Divine compassion ; 
hence we read : " For unto Adam also and unto his ivife 
2* 



18 THE LIGHT. 

did the Lord God make coats of skin, and he clothed 
them?' 

While it is true that man's sin offended the majesty 
of God. by the violation of his law, it is not true that it 
affected either the nature or character of God ; neither is 
it true that he punishes any creature in anger. God's 
power is exerted in the preservation, not the destruc- 
tion or punishment of any of his creatures. " He is the 
preserver of all, the special preserver of them that be- 
lieve" — (Tim. 4 : 10). Man's punishment is the legiti- 
mate consequence of his own transgression — hence, said 
the apostle James, " Let no man say when he is tempt- 
ed (to do evil), I am tempted of God, for God cannot 
be tempted with evil ; neither tempteth he any one (to 
do evil), but every man is tempted when he is drawn 
away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust 
hath conceived, it bringeth forth (as its offspring) sin ; 
and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth (as its off- 
spring) death." 

This was precisely the case with Adam. God made 
him perfect and upright, capable of perfect obedience, and 
therefore accountable for the full and perfect exercise of 
his mental and physical powers ; moreover, he placed 
him under law, guarded by penal sanctions, with clear 
and explicit instructions, and commanded him, saying, 
" Of every tree of the garden thou mayest eat, but of 
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt 
not eat of it, for, in the day of thy eating, dying thou 
shalt die." 

But all these powers, precepts, and commands, Adam 
disregarded and abused, as also the authority with 
which he was invested, and thus not only cut himself 
off from the parental protection of God, and the par- 
ticipation of the tree of life, but also subjected himself 
to a precarious condition of existence. Henceforth must 
his food consist of the herbs of the ground, instead of 
the fruit of the trees which was to be his food during 
his innocence. The ground was cursed for his sin, and 
in his stead, and consequently in place of that delightful 
fruit which it spontaneously produced after its creation, 



WHY ADAM DID NOT DIE, ETC. 19 

" thorns and thistles" only could it yield of itself — there- 
fore, in the sweat of his face must he eat bread all the 
days of his life. That is, his labor and toil should not 
cease until he returned unto the ground from whence he 
was created — "for of dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou 
return,' 1 

Thus dying, he was to die in the most natural order, 
because, in the roots and herbs of the ground, which were 
now to supply his daily food, and on which his existence 
solely depended, there was poison enough to gradually 
taint and corrupt his nature, and most infallibly hasten 
his death. 

We have neither time, room, nor inclination to notice 
the notions of those who think God should have made 
Adam with a nature incapable of sinning ; neither of 
those who, on the other hand, think that the vindication 
of God's law and veracity, required Adam's immediate 
death on the day in which he eat of the forbidden 
tree. 

" God," it is argued, " might have made Adam incap- 
able of sin, and thus prevent all the calamity that his 
sin produced." Well, it is admitted that he could, but 
then, it does not seem to have comported with his crea- 
tive wisdom to have done so ; besides, had God created 
Adam incapable of sin, then he would also be incapable 
of obedience ; for the obedience of any creature is pre- 
dicated on the fact, that he is capable of disobedience. 
To have made Adam, therefore, incapable of disobe- 
dience, would have rendered him incapable of developing 
the perfection of his natural attributes, as his passive 
condition would leave it uncertain whether he was 
made capable of maintaining virtue, or resisting 
vice. 

And in reference to Adam's being put to death the hour 
he sinned. I admit, that God might, without injustice, 
" have cut off the offending pair, and have created an- 
other, but this neither seems to have comported with 
his infinite wisdom and creative design ; neither can it be 
shown, that any good could have been accomplished by 
such course, as the second race, if intelligent, must be 



20 THE LIGHT. 

situated similar to the first. They also must be placed 
in a state of probation — they must be placed under 
law. This law must be guarded by penal sanctions 
and commands. The possibility of transgression would 
be the same in the second that it was in the first, and 
the failure as probable, because as possible." Better, 
therefore, to let the same pair continue to live, and ful- 
fill the great end of their being, by propagating their 
like on the earth, and provide an antidote for the poi- 
son, as God, by the incarnation and death of the Divine 
Redeemer, has done : and thus, by a dispensation as 
expressive of Divine wisdom as of goodness, make the 
cause of ail the ills of life the means of counteracting 
the schemes and designs of the wicked one : and 
through the fall of Adam, in the wonderful scheme of 
redemption, finally elevate redeemed man, from being 
a mere creature of dust, to participation in the Divine 
nature, which is accomplished by the regenerating power 
and birth of the Holy Spirit, in the reproduction of the 
righteous dead ; not in the likeness of Adam, but of 
Christ. " We shall be like him, for we shall see him as 
he is." Father, I will that those whom thou gavest 
me, be with me, that they may behold my glory, even 
that glory which I had with thee before the world was. 
" And not one of them shall perish, for I shall give 
them eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last 
day." 



CHAPTER III. 

WHAT SPIEIT KETURNS TO GOD AT MAN'S 

DEATH ? 



THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN MOSES* ACCOUNT OF MAN'S 

CREATION, AND SOLOMON'S ACCOUNT OF HIS 

DISSOLUTION IN DEATH. 



"And the dust shall return to the earth as it was, and 
the spirit shall return to God who gave it.' 1 — Eccl. 12: 7. 

As this text is the main pillar on which the teachers 
of religion, in onr day and generation, build what they 
call orthodoxy ; viz. : That every human being has 
dwelling in him another being, which they term " the 
soul, 11 and that it exists a conscious rational being when 
the human being himself is dead ; we shall examine it 
first, in the light of scripture, and secondly, in the light 
of reason, and show that the theory is contrary to both. 
And, as the doctrine is purely of heathen origin, hav- 
ing no countenance in divine revelation, to avoid offend- 
ing our own reason, by calling it orthodoxy, and to 
avoid giving any reasonable cause of offense to those 
who teach and believe it, we shall designate it, with all 
their teaching, under the very appropriate name of 
Gentilism. 



a The dust shall return to the earth as it was, and 
the spirit shall return to God who gave it. ,} 

Such is the account Solomon has given us of man's 
dissolution in death, and, as the winding up of his exist- 



22 THE LIGHT. 

ence, it is in perfect harmony with the account Moses 
has given us of man's creation, viz., "And the Lord 
God formed man of dust from the ground, and he 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives, and the man 
became a living soul." — Gen. 2 : 7. 

Making due allowance for the peculiarity of the his- 
tory each had to give, from the agreement of their 
words, we have reason to suppose that Solomon, in his 
history of man's dissolution in death, had reference to 
Moses' account of his creation, although there is a 
very material difference in the Hebrew tongue, between 
breath and spirit. The Hebrew word,which answers to 
spirit, is ruach, while the word which answers to breath 
is na-shav. The ruach comes from God, while the 
other is derived from respiring or inhaling the vital air. 
When the Hebrew scriptures mention the ruach, either 
of man or beast (as in Eccl. 3 : 21), they refer to, 
and mean, that power of God which gave existence to 
man and beast alike, and in which both now " live, and 
move, and have their being." 

Now, Moses tells us, that God, having formed man of 
the aphar — fine dust — from the ground, wy-yiph-pach — 
he blew, or breathed, or puffed, be-aph-pach — in his nos- 
trils, nish-math-hy-yim — the breath of lives, and this 
being done, the man became a nephesh-chyyah — a 
creature of life; Nishmath comes from the root nu? 

— sham — to respire, breathe, inhale — hence, when God 
caused the man, formed of dust, to inhale or breathe the 
respiration of life, the man became a nephesh-chy-yah — 
a creature of life, or living soul, if you prefer it. 

Solomon's account is simply that, when man, through 
the derangement of his organic functions, ceases to have 
the power of respiration, he is dead, and then, that the 
aphar — dust — returns to the earth as " he" was before 
creation, and the ruach — spirit not the nish-mah — re- 
turns to God who gave " her" Thus, we see the perfect 
agreement of Moses' and Solomon's account. One tells us 
of man's origin — the other of his end. But, let the 
reader observe that Solomon does not say man's spirit 
returns to God at his death, but the ruach — the spirit 



WHAT SPIRIT RETURNS TO GOD, ETC. 23 

or power by which man and beast and all living" crea- 
tures were quickened and brought to conscious existence. 
Man's natural powers having ceased to discharge the 
functions of life, God's power returns to himself, and the 
man becomes, except in God's purpose to reproduce 
him, as he was before his creation ; so far as life 
and consciousness are concerned. While there is 
hope of his resurrection, man is not annihilated, but, 
until the resurrection, he is a dead man, and " the dead 
know not anything." — Eccl. 4 : 12 ; 8 : 7 ; 9 : 5. 

If it be objected that the spirit, which returns to God 
is not dead, I reply, that is not man's, but God's spirit — 
the ruach that created and made man a living 1 soul. 
That spirit was no more the man's than it was the man 
himself. It was the power that gave animation and 
consciousness to all the nephesh chy-yim — creatures of 
life. There would be as much propriety in saying, 
that the air a man breathes is his air, as that the ruach 
is his spirit. 

After Adam had sinned, God arraigned him, and, hav- 
ing heard from his own lips the confession of his guilt, 
passed the following sentence : " And unto Adam he 
said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of 
thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I com- 
manded thee saying, Thou shalt not eat of it : Cursed 
is the ground for thy sake : in sorrow shalt thou eat 
of it all the days of thy life : Thorns, also, and thistles 
shall it bring forth unto thee : and thou shalt eat the 
herb of the field : in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat 
bread till thou return unto the ground, for out of it 
wast thou taken : for dust thou art and unto dust 
shalt thou return." 

A passage more definite and less figurative than this, 
cannot be found in any writing or book of any age or 
nation ; and to undertake to construe it, with any pre- 
tense to consistency and truth, into the meaning that 
theologians commonly attach to it, is as impossible as 
it must be unpardonable. Either God was speaking to 
whatever constituted Adam's individuality, or he was 
not addressing him at all. It is not an allegory or par- 



24 THE LIGHT. 

able, but a historical fact, in which God used Adam's 
proper name and the pronouns thee and thou, which point 
out his individuality, and for the reasons above assigned, 
and because he was of the dust, he tells Adam that to 
dust shall he return in death. 

We shall, in its proper place, show that it is useless 
attempting to say, " God was addressing Adam's body 
to the exclusion" of what is supposed to constitute " his 
soul." Sufficient, at present, to say is this, Adam was the 
one created ; Adam was the one who sinned ; Adam was 
the one arraigned before God ; Adam was the one whom 
God sentenced, and Adam was the one who died. And, 
if there be any meaning to the words of God, it is this : 
Adam in death returned to the element from which he 
was created, namely, dust of the ground. Neither will 
it avail anything, to tell us what some have vainly tried 
to prove, that " Moses gave account of Adam's body 
merely, while Solomon gave account of his soul." 
Truth is simple and reasonable and can stand alone — 
but error needs the artificial support of learned sophis- 
try. It is not difficult to see the harmony of Moses and 
Solomon in their respective narratives, and if words 
have any meaning, Solomon reduces man in death to 
that state of unconsciousness which preceded his crea- 
tion, as we shall proceed to show. 

The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit 
returns to God who gave it. It must be owing either to 
ignorance, or want of due consideration of what Solo- 
mon has said in the preceding part of this book called 
Ecclesiastes, that would lead any one to fasten on this 
text to prove that man, in losing life, does not with it 
lose all consciousness, and, without a resurrection from 
death, all hope of future good or evil. 

In chap. 3d, v. 19, Solomon goes on to show, that in 
death, man has no pre-eminence above the beast. 

" For that which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth 
the beasts ; even one thing befalleth them ; as the one 
dieth, so dieth the other ; yea, they have all one breath ; 
so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast ; for 
all is vanity. (20) All go unto one place ; all are of 



WHAT SPIRIT RETURNS TO GOD, ETC. 25 

the dust, and all turn to dust again : (21) who know- 
eth the spirit of the man that goeth upward, and the 
spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" 

Solomon's testimony, respecting the condition of 
man and beast in death, put in modern English style, 
would read thus : That which befalls the sons of Adam, 
is the same as what befalls the beasts in death ; the con- 
dition of both is equal ? 

Enquirer : Pray, Solomon, tell us how they fare in 
death '? 

Solomon : " As the one dieth, so dieth the other. ,, 

Enquirer : What ! man and beast fare alike in 
death ? 

Solomon : " Yea, they have all one breath." That 
is, they all live alike, by breathing the air — zeh we-ruach 
a-chad la-cal — one spirit animates all, so that, in death, 
man has nothing to boast above the beast ; for all his 
boasting is vanity, he hach-col havel — for all vanisheth 
away — i. e., all tie vain conceit, which leads man to think 
he is above the beast in death, ends there. 

Enquirer : Why, Solomon ! sir, you astonish me. 
Can it be possible that, in death, man and beast are 
alike unconscious ? 

Solomon : " All go into one place, all are of the dust, 
and all turn to dust again," when they die. 

Enquirer: Wonderful, indeed! why, Solomon, sir, 
this is opposed to the belief of all Christians. They 
teach that man has an " immortal soul" which the beast 
has not. And that the spirit of the beast descends to 
the earth in death, while the spirit of the man ascends 
to heaven, but you contradict all this. 

Solomon : I know the general opinion which men en- 
tertain in reference to the subject. " But who knoweth 
that the spirit of the sons of Adam ascendeth, while 
the spirit of the beast descendeth to the earth ?" I tell 
you, both had the same origin and have the same end in 
death. " And out of the ground the Lord God formed 
every beast of the field."— Gen. 2 : 19. " And the 
Lord God formed man of dust from the ground." — Gen. 
2:7. 
3 



26 THE LIGHT. 

Solomon's doctrine is this : Man and beast are alike 
of the dust, because, both were alike created from dust ; 
at the death of each, the dust returns to the earth as it 
was originally ; the spirit, which returns to God, is the 
spirit, neither of the man nor of the beast, but the spirit 
of God that animates both alike. 

After showing (in chapter 8 : 8-14) that death is 
the inevitable doom of all, because no man has power 
to retain the spirit that animates him, and from enter- 
ing the list of the dead there is no discharge, he exhorts 
the godly to bear with resignation the ill-treatment of 
wicked rulers, in view of the rewards that awaited them 
in a future life, and the punishment God would inflict on 
their persecutors. 

" But though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and 
his days be prolonged (in doing evil), yet, surely I 
know that it shall be well with them that fear God, 
which fear before him ; but it shall not be well with 
the wicked, neither shall he prolong kis days, which 
are as a shadow, because he feareth not before 
God." 

Having shown that in death there is no difference 
between man and beast, he proceeds to show that, in 
this life, there is no difference between the righteous and 
the wicked. 

The 9 th chapter commences with observing that 
from the impartiality which God, in the present life, 
displays toward the sons of men, none can tell who is 
the object of the divine hatred or love. For " all things 
come alike to all ; there is one event to the righteous 
and to the wicked ; to the good and to the bad ; to 
the clean and to the unclean ; to him that sacrificeth 
and to him that sacrificeth not ; as is the good so is 
the sinner, and he that sweareth (falsely) as he that 
feareth a (false) oath." Solomon calls this " an evil 
under the sun," i. e., a universal evil, because of the ad- 
vantage that the wicked take ; those " whose hearts are 
full of evil and madness while they live, and after that, 
they go to the dead," where heart, and sight, and sense 
fail them ; for death only could stop their career. But 



WHAT SPIRIT RETURNS TO GOD, ETC. 27 

that Solomon has no reference to the state of death, as 
a state of consciousness, is evident from his exhorta- 
tion to the living, that they may be prepared for 
death. 

11 For to him that is joined to all the living, there is 
hope ; for a living dog is better than a dead lion ; for 
the living know that they must die, but the dead know 
not anything, neither have they any more a reward 
(while dead) : for the memory of them is forgotten (i. e., 
memory forsakes them), also, their love, and their 
hatred, and their envy, is now perished, neither have 
they any more a portion forever (while dead), in any- 
thing that is done under the sun." 

Behold, then, the teaching of inspired wisdom, re- 
specting the condition of man and beast, the righteous 
and wicked in death. In that condition, the love of the 
one, and the hatred of the other, is alike suspended, and 
neither has any part in the good or the evil that is go- 
ing on under the sun. That is, anywhere, as the sun 
pervades the universal heavens. — Ps. 19 : 6. 

Hence, said the wise man, " Go thy way and eat thy 
bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry 
heart. Let thy garments be always white, and let thy 
head lack no ointment, whatsoever thy hand findeth to 
do, do it with thy might : for there is no work, nor 
device, nor knowledge in tlie grave whither thou 
goest." 

Having given sundry precepts and encouraging 
promises and assurances to those who cast their bread 
upon the waters, that, after many days, they shall again 
find it ; still keeping in view the subject of death, he 
add3 (chap. 11 : 9) : " But if a man shall live many 
years, and rejoice in them all ; yet let him remember 
the days of darkness, for they shall be many." All 
that cometh to pass, during the days of darkness, is vani- 
ty, or, in other words, it is vanity to calculate upon the 
state of death, as a time of amendment ; for the dead 
neither know nor feel. All rejoicing is at an end, and 
probation is no longer ; hence, to the thoughtless and 
evil-minded, who heed neither the warnings of Provi- 



28 THE LIGHT. 

dence, nor the voice of reason, Solomon deridingly 
adds : 

" Kejoice, 0, young" man, in the d&ys of thy youth, 
and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, 
and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the light 
of thine eyes ; but know thou, that for all these things 
God will bring thee to judgment/' 

If Solomon wrote under the influence of the Holy 
Spirit, as we believe he did, this sentence would of itself 
seem sufficient to establish the fact, that wicked men 
will be raised from death, and judged when raised, not- 
withstanding the opinion of some good men to the con- 
trary. 

Therefore, in view of the tact, that there is a future 
life to be expected, wherein the acts of the present, 
whether good or bad, shall receive their just award, 
Solomon comes to the following reasonable conclusion : 
Therefore, " remove anger from thy heart, and put away 
evil from thy flesh, for the (follies of) childhood and 
youth are vanity." — Chap. 11 : 10. 

The twelfth and last chapter of Solomon's treatise on 
human life and death commences with an exhortation, 
in which he gives a most comprehensive and intelligent 
description of the process of decay in old age, which, 
finally, ends in the dissolution of the organized being, 
or living man. 

Chap. XII. v. 1. — "Remember now thy Creator in the 
days of iky youth, while the evil days come not, nor 
the years draw nigh, when thou shaft say I have no 
pleasure in them." [That is, in the follies of childhood 
and youth, which above are declared vanity, and there- 
fore requested to be laid aside.] 

v. 2d. — " While the sun, or the light of the moon, or 
stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain" 
— old age, with all its withering infirmities, is evidently 
here set forth under the emblem of winter, as youth is re- 
presented by spring, in many parts,, of Scripture. 

v. 3d. — i; In the clays when the keepers of the house shall 
tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the 
grinders shall cease because they are few, and those that 



WHAT SPIRIT RETURNS TO GOD, ETC. 29 

look out of the windows be darkened." In this verse is 
given a striking description of the paralyzed limbs, the 
lost teeth, and dim vision of old age. 

v. 4th. — "And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when 
the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at 
the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music 
shall be brought lowP In old age, the lips or gates of 
the mouth, and cavities of the jaws, the streets through 
which the food passes, are compressed, and sleep is not 
sound. It is but mere slumber, from which the least 
noise startles ; and the vocal organs, or daughters of 
music, endless in variety of tone, are enfeebled and be- 
come querulous. The experience of every aged person 
is the best proof that the explanation, here given, is the 
correct meaning of the text. We can offer but the 
merest allusion, as a lengthy comment would swell our 
pages beyond proper dimensions. 

v. 5th. — u Also, when they shall be afraid of that 
which is high, and fear shall be in the way, and the 
almond tree shall (not) flourish, and the grasshopper 
shall be a burthen, and desire shall fail" The aged 
are afraid to ascend any steep place, or travel alone, be- 
cause they have neither strength nor agility to escape 
danger. And the hair of the head, figuratively called 
the almond tree, having lost its animal vegetation, first 
turns gray, and finally drops off ; and their ill-shaped 
figure, in general, is aptly described by that animal call- 
ed the grasshopper, " And desire shall fail." All that 
seemed desirable in the days of youth and vanity fail to 
interest them in old age, and even the desire of life it- 
self has lost its charms, being diminished by the circum- 
stances of their condition. And, " because man goeth to 
his long home, the mourners go through the streets." 

As Solomon is not addressing the righteous 
specially, 'tis evident this long home is not heaven, 
but, as Job says — " The grave is mine home : 0, that 
thou wouldst hide me in the grave and keep me secret 
till thy wrath is passed, that thou wouldst appoint me 
a set time and remember me." 

"There," said Job, alluding to the grave, "the 
3* 



30 THE LIGHT. 

wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary ( in 
strength) find rest. There the prisoners rest together ; 
they hear not the voice of the oppressor ; the small and 
the great are there, and the slave is freed from his mas- 
ter." In this common tenement, Job tells us, " man 
lieth down and riseth not till the heavens be no more ; they 
shall not awake nor be raised from their sleep." 

v. 6. — 'Or eve?' the silver cord be loosed y or the gold- 
en bowl be broken, or the 'pitcher be broken at the fount- 
ain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.' 1 '' Soio \ion 
understood well the grand mechanism of man's bodily or- 
ganization, and its special dependence, to discharge the 
functions of life and thought, on the healthful condition 
of those vital parts which he designates as the " silver 
cord" i. e., the spinal marrow, through which all the 
nerves connect and communicate with the brain> and be- 
cause of its silver-gray color and exact similitude to a cord, 
the term is peculiarly applicable ; and the debilitated 
condition of the nervous system in the hour of death. 
It is in some persons noticeable for several days before 
death, by the fall of the lower jaw. And by the " golden 
bowl" he alludes to the brain contained in the scull, as 
it bears a resemblance to that vessel, the container being 
put for the contained, commonly done in scripture phrase- 
ology, and because of its color and preciousness. This 
being broken, unfits it either to supply or distribute 
nervous energy. 

By i( the pitcher broken at the fountain" he refers to that 
organ called by the physicians the vena-cava, which 
brings back the blood to the right ventricle of the heart, 
called by Solomon very properly the fountain ; because 
it is the spring from whence the blood gushes up, and 
properly applies to the expansion and contraction 
of the heart, sending out the blood by one pulse and re- 
ceiving it back by another. " The wheel broken at the 
cistern," has reference to that organ called by medical 
science the aorta, which receives the blood from the cis- 
tern — the right ventricle of the heart — and distributes 
it to the different parts of the system. This, as in the 
case of the brain, is rendered useless when broken. 



WHAT SPIRIT RETURNS TO GOD, ETC. 31 

v. 7. — " Tlien shall the dust return unto the earthy 
as it was (before its organization), and the spirit (that 
animated the organized dust) shall return unto God 
who gave it]' and just as it was before he gave it. 

as is the earthly career and final dissolution of man 
completed, and the word of God — " Dying thou shalt 
die. and to dust shalt thou return" — fulfilled to the let- 
ter. 

Dying, man does die, and in death returns to uncon- 
sciousness ; being reduced to the element from which he 
was originally produced — dust from the ground. But 
the objector still may repeat the old query, What re- 
turns to God who gave it ? Answer, the spirit or power 
of life, that came originally from God. The man, cer- 
tainly does not return to God in death, because he had 
no being with God before his creation. He did not 
come from heaven, nor was he created of anything that 
was heavenly or spiritual, but of dust from the ground : 
and God breathed into his nostrils the nish-math chy- 
yim — the breath of lives — and the man that was made of 
the dust) became a nephesh chy-yah — a creature of 
life or living soul. And, agreeable to God's purpose 
and word, this creature of life or living soul, returned, 
at his death, to dust again, and the spirit, that animated 
him during his organized life, returned to God who gave 
it. 



WAS THE BREATH OP LIFE A RATIONAL BEING BEFORE 
IT WAS IMPARTED TO ADAM ? 

The main question to be settled now is — have we 
any evidence, either from reason or revelation, that 
the breath which God breathed into man at his creation, 
was anything akin to what is commonly asserted of the 
soul ? That is, a conscious rational being. 

I can see no evidence either from reason or revelation, 
to believe the common theory respecting the soul, and 
it becomes those who say that it is an independent con- 
scious rational being, to show some reasonable proof for 



32 THE LIGHT. 

their belief ; as the bare assertion merely establishes no 
doctrine. If the theory be true, it is either self-evident 
or capable of reasonable proof. 

The Holy Scriptures plainly teach that the breath 
was not the man, neither the soul nor life of man, but 
that it caused the organized man to become a living 
soul. " God formed man of dust from the ground, and 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives, and the 
man became a living soul." This teaches that it was 
the man that became alive in consequence of the breath's 
being breathed into his nostrils. This is reasonable and 
self-evidently true, but the idea that the breath became 
the soul in consequence of its being breathed into the 
man — nay, more, that the soul is the man proper, is as 
unreasonable as it is unscriptural. 

The breath was not the soul of man. It was the breath 
of God. The breath did not become the soul of man, 
but it made the man a living soul. It animated the 
organized man to whom God said, after he was animat- 
ed : " Dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return" 
The breath was not of the dust, because it came from 
God ; but God said to the man, thou art of dust, and 
thou shalt return to dust again. Therefore, the breath 
formed no part of the living man, and its returning to 
God at his death, does not argue that any part of man 
returns to God in death, but only God's own power, by 
which the man lived, and moved, and had his be- 
ing. 

God told the man, if he eat of the forbidden tree, that 
dying he would die. Solomon tells us, the breath does 
not die, but returns to God at the man's death, there- 
fore, the breath forms no part of the man. The Holy 
Scriptures emphatically declare — " The soul that sinneth 
it shall die," and again, that, at death, the spirit or 
breath " returns to God who gave it." Thus do the 
Scriptures teach that the soul is not the spirit, nor yet 
the spirit the soul, as many suppose. 

The breath or spirit which God imparted to Adam at 
his creation, was not a rational or intellectual being 
before it was breathed into the man, neither did it 



WHAT SPIRIT RETURNS TO GOD, ETC. 33 

constitute any part of him, else the statement that man 
was made of dust from the ground could not be correct. 

Moses does not say that a body was made for Adam, 
but that Adam was made of dust, and as there is no 
reason or proof to show that the breath had any ration- 
al or conscious existence before it was imparted to the 
organized man, there is no reason for supposing that it 
had any after it was imparted ; much less reason or 
proof is there for supposing that it has conscious, ra- 
tional existence, after it returns to its original source — 
to God. It is mentioned as having relation to a being— 
to the man whom it animated — but not as if it were 
a being of, or in, itself. 

If, as gentilism would have it, the breath was a con- 
scious rational being before it was imparted to Adam, 
and constituted the essential Adam through life, then it 
is not true that the "first man was made of the earth a 
living soul." Yet Paul the Apostle, when contrasting 
the natures of Adam and Christ, declares this to be a 
fact. " The first man is of the earth earthy." " The 
second man is the Lord from heaven." He then declares 
that, in the resurrection, as was the earthy man, Adam, 
such also shall they be who die earthy ; but as is the 
heavenly man, Christ, now, such also shall they be who 
die heavenly — see 1 Cor. 15 : 47, 48. Now the idea, 
that the breath, which man received at creation, consti- 
tuted the essential man through life, contradicts the 
whole of Paul's statement, as also the statement of 
Moses, " Dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return.'' 
Man, before his creation, had no conscious existence, no 
more had the breath by which he was animated, neither 
was of itself a conscious rational being, before or after 
their union in the organized man. And as, in death, 
each returns to its original mode of existence, neither 
has any separate conscious existence, and, therefore, in 
the state of death, man is as unconscious as before his 
creation, and his future existence depends on a resurrec- 
tion to life ; hence, said Paul : " If the dead rise not, 
then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ are per- 
ished."—! Cor. 15 : 18. 



34 THE LIGHT. 

THE MAN IS NOT A SPIRIT. 

As we have already shown, man is not a spirit, but a 
material organized living creature, possessing, by virtue 
of his organization, rational intelligence. His death is 
not a change of his being, but the entire cessation of his 
vital and conscious existence. Death is the total destruc- 
tion of organized life and consciousness. The Scrip- 
tures tell us that at death, the dust of which man was 
composed returns to dust again, and the power which 
animated it returns to God who gave it. And, foras- 
much as the man was formed of dust, and adapted for 
life and consciousness, and received that life and consci- 
ousness by the will of God, through inhaling and exhal- 
ing the nish-math chy-yim — the breath of lives—and had 
no life or consciousness before he received it ; the very 
moment he ceases to have the power of respiration, that 
moment he loses all consciousness, and so far as it de- 
pends on himself, or any human power, he becomes as 
though he had never existed and without a resurrection 
to life, he is lost forever. 

Again, the breath or spirit, by which man was anima- 
ted at his creation, formed no part of his substance or 
organization, but the power of animation, which ori- 
ginated with, and proceeded from, God. It was given to 
animate and give conscious existence to the man, and 
forasmuch as it is declared that at his death, the same 
breath or spirit returns to God who gave it, as it was, 
is it not unreasonable to imagine that in death the man 
is a conscious being ? If, indeed, it could be seen that 
this breath or spirit formed any part of the organized 
man, or that it had- of itself consciousness or independ- 
ence of being, then there would be some reason for 
supposing that a part of the man, at least, had consci- 
ousness in death. But reason, revelation, and common 
sense, forbid such extravagance of folly. And if it cannot 
be shown that it was an independent conscious rational 
being, either before or after it was imparted to the man, 
why should it be insisted upon, and taught, that it has 
all these endowments or functions, after it leaves the 



WHAT SPIRIT RETURNS TO GOD, ETC. 35 

man, and returns to Jehovah Elohim, its original 
source ? 



REASON SAYS, THE SPIRIT THAT RETURNS TO GOD AT 
MAN'S DEATH, FORMS NO PART OP THE MAN ; NEITHER 
HAS IT OF ITSELF ANY REASON OR CONSCIOUSNESS. 

The common theological opinion of gentilism is, that 
" the body of man was made of dust, and the soul was 
superadded, being breathed into him ; that the soul is 
the essential man, while the body is a mere temporary 
shell, covering, tent, or resting-place for the soul," etc. 
We have only time to say at present, that it is as diffi- 
cult to reconcile this notion with the account which 
Moses has left us, as it is to reconcile its advocates one 
with the other. Some say : 

" The soul is a native of the skies ; an incarnate sub- 
stance, a part of God." Others say, " It is a spiritual 
creation?' and others call it, "An emanation of the 
divine essence, a part of God." While others still call it, 
11 An immaterial substance," and so on, to the end of the 
chapter. But while they all differ as to the elements of 
its composition, they agree that it is immortal in 
nature. 

Now, reason can no more reconcile these notions, with 
the inspired account of Moses, than it could that five 
and four make sixteen. Moses' history of man's crea- 
tion from dust comports with reason and common sense, 
and Solomon's account of his dissolution in death is re- 
concilable with Moses', but the theological construc- 
tion of their meaning destroys the sense both of Moses 
and Solomon, while it makes no other sense of its own 
than the contradiction of reason. 

Reason cannot see the utility of confining a pure, 
holy, immortal being, such as the " theological soul" is 
described to be, into a body of clay, and making that 
pure being subject to, and responsible for, all the ignor- 
ance, and imperfections, and crimes of the body of clay ; 
unless the " rational spirit," as it is often called, and the 



36 THE LIGHT. 

body of clay, are made one inseparable being ; and if 
so, then reason asks, How can one part be immortal, 
while the other part is mortal, or even subject to mor- 
tality ? The theory of " a compound nature" will not 
answer this query, till it is first proved that man has, 
or is of, a compound nature. This theory is only 
assumed ; we look for proof, not bare assumptions. 

Reason says, If man is a compound being, made up of 
body, soul, and spirit, one part cannot be mortal while 
another part is immortal, unless they are separate enti- 
ties, and can exist independently of each other ; immor- 
tality is that principle of nature, which is opposed to 
mortality — just as light is to darkness and life to death. 
It might as well be contended that day is night and 
light darkness, or that death is life, as that the same be- 
ing is both mortal and immortal at the same moment. 

Reason asks, If the body is not the man, but only the 
mere shell, or tent, in which the " soul, or spirit, or 
man" dwells, and if the body only dies, why is it said 
that the man dies, whereas, if the theory be true, no- 
thing that composed the man dies at all, " but only the 
tent in which he sojourned merely got shattered in the 
storm of life ?" 

Reason desires to know, If the body forms nopart of 
the essential man, which of the other two does ? Is the 
soul the essential man ? Is the spirit the essential man ? 
or is each a separate and distinct entity ? and if so, 
which is the essential man ? If neither be the man, then 
what is the man ? What is he composed of ? Is he 
all body, all soul, or all spirit ? Or is he of a threefold 
kind, body, soul, and sp rit ? If the latter be true, does 
not the death of the man involve the death of the whole ? 
It will not answer to tell us that the soul and spirit are 
one and the same thing, as this is only a confusion of 
terms, and contradiction both of Scripture and reason. 

The Greek words answering to soul and sp rit, are 
psukee and pneuma, and the Apostle Paul speaks of 
the word of God as dividing asunder, or separating, 
both soul and spirit. — Heb. 4 : 12. 

Now, I ask, is it reasonable to suppose, if the Apos- 



WHAT SPIRIT RETURNS TO GOD, ETC. 67 



tie understood the word psukee — soul or life — to mean 
pneuma — spirit — that he would place them side by side 
in the same sentence, and tell us the word of God separ- 
ated the one from the other ? No, certainly. 

Whatever Paul understood them respectively to 
mean, he did not understand them to mean one and the 
same thing ; because he spoke of them as distinct and 
separate, one from the other ; therefore, to say, " the 
spirit returns to God in death," does not imply that the 
soul also returns to God in death, even if it could be 
shown that there is such being distinct from man. That 
which made the man a living soul — the animating power — 
returns at the death of the man to its original source — 
to God, and the organized dust returns also, to its own 
source. The Apostle James also, says, " as the body with- 
out the pneuma— spirit— is dead, so faith without works is 
dead." Had the Apostle written psukee — soul or life — 
instead of pne u ma— spirit — there might be some rea- 
son for believing that there is a soul distinct from the 
body, and that it gives life to the body, and that it 
can exist separate from the body ; but with Paul and 
James, and the higher authority of reason against it, 
the case seems hopeless indeed. Paul, in speaking of 
the separation of soul and spirit, is not teaching the ex- 
istence of two separate and distinct entities in man, but 
showing the power of the word of God in penetrating 
and laying open both the animal and intellectual pas- 
sions, and reading the lonely thoughts of the human 
heart. Neither Scripture, reason, nor common sense 
offers the faintest hope for the theory, that in man there 
is a conscious, rational being, that survives his death. 
Revelation has produced no such word as " the never- 
dying soul" but, on the contrary, the Holy Scriptures 
positively declare, " the soul that sinneth } it shall die.' 1 — 
Ezek. 18 : 4-20. 

Reason says, If the soul be an entity distinct from the 
body, and superadded after marts creation, the spirit 
must also be an entity distinct and superadded. 

There is as much evidence of the one as of the other, 
and if man were composed of three distinct entities and 
4 



38 THE LIGHT. 

only one of them die, there would be some intimation 
of the fact given in the Scriptures, as the experience of 
all rational men contradicts the theory ; but the Holy 
Scriptures give no such intimation, and our reason, 
judgment, and experience condemn it in toto. 

If two or more entities are necessary to constitute the 
essential, living man, and it is said of that living man, 
that he dies, then reason naturally must infer what is 
fairly implied, viz.? that everything which did compose 
the living man is dead. 

If it be still insisted that the man's body merely dies, 
and that his soul or spirit, or both, go directly to heaven, 
hell, or purgatory, then reason says, the his, i. e., the 
man, may not have died at all, as the very reasoning 
that goes to prove that body is a property of his, the 
man, proves as effectually that soul and spirit are also 
properties of his, the man, and thus can we see that, if 
the doctrine of gentilism be true, there is an entity 
called man which is distinct from either body, soul, or 
spirit, and since, according to Gentile theory, death 
only means the breaking up of the firm of Man fy Co., 
there is no reason to suppose the real man dies at all, 
or goes either to heaven, or to hell, or to purgatory. I do 
wish some Gentile doctor would give us the nature and 
dimensions of a being which is neither body, soul, nor 
spirit. 

* As reason cannot conclude, from the teaching of gen- 
tilism, which of the entities of Man fy Co. is guilty of 
sin, we respectfully call upon some one of them to come 
forward and show us ivho or which is guilty. 

Is it the man's body ? Is it the man's soul ? Is it 
the man's spirit ? or, is it the man himself that is guilty? 
Until we are better informed, we must conclude that the 
man, in his individual, or collective capacity, that is, 
body, soul, and spirit, is guilty of sin, and if man is thus 
guilty, then these functions must be equally guilty, and 
if equally guilty, then reason and justice both demand 
that they be equally punished. Even human justice 
demands this ; and man is not more just than his Maker. 

Eevelation teacheth that, " The wages of sin is 



WHAT SPIRIT RETURNS TO GOD, ETC. 39 

death." Now, if man is divided into a trinity, or more, 
of beings that can exist separate, distinct, and independ- 
ent one of the other, it is not just nor reasonable, that 
one must die and lose all consciousness of pleasure and 
pain, while the others never die and never lose con- 
sciousness, though guilty of the same crime which has 
caused the death of a member of the firm. If the soul, 
or spirit, or both, be entities distinct from, and inde- 
pendent of, the body, then the crimes of the one cannot, 
in justice, be chargeable on the other ; and, as the wages 
of sin is death, according to the law of God, and as, ac- 
cording to Gentile theology, the body only dies, then it 
follows that the soul, or spirit, or both, do not sin and 
are not guilty, for if guilty, they must die ; for " the 
wages of sin is death," and " the soul that sinneth, it 
shall die." Is not my conclusion orthodox ? 

Reason says, if the soul, or spirit, or both, are distinct 
entities, and can exist independent of the body, they can 
commit sin without the aid of the body. Or, if they 
compel the body to commit sin, to gratify their lusts, it 
is not just to punish the body with death for the sins 
which they caused it to commit. They should be pun- 
ished for their own sins, and the poor body, which gen- 
tilism says was but their passive tool, should not par- 
take of the punishment due to their crimes, and which 
they escape if it be true that they escape death. 

u We call on the theological doctors to inform us as to 
which of those entities — body, soul, spirit, or man — God 
warned," saying : " In the day of thy eating, dying 
thou shalt die." Also, which of them did eat? and to 
what particular member of the firm it was said, " In the 
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return 
to the ground, for out of it was thou taken ; for dust 
thou art, and to dust shalt thou return V If the body, 
only was addressed, then the soul, etc., are clear ; there 
is no charge against them, and a just God will not pun- 
ish the soul, nor any of its associates, if it have any, for 
the sins that clo not belong to it, or them — and as the 
theological doctors tell us the soul is " an heavenly ema- 
nation," having no relation to dust, other than making 



40 THE LIGHT. 

the body its temporary resting-place ; when, as the 
doctors tell us, " it shall quit its tent and fly off, and 
reach its native skies," it can plead to the question not 
guilty. 

But if the soul, or any, or all, of its spiritual associ- 
ates, are addressed through the body, then their moral 
accountability, apart from the body, is destroyed, and 
they must be punished or rewarded in connection with, 
and at the same time that the body is — as they certainly 
have no separate entity, and consequently no separate 
conscious existence. The sentence of God is positive 
and definite — Ice aphar aihtahwe-el-aphar ta-shoov — ■ 
"because dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return." 
If the soul is not involved in this sentence, neither is it 
involved in the sin which caused the sentence. It is 
either altogether guilty, or altogether clear. If it be 
guilty, it is of or from the dust ; if it is not from the 
dust it is not guilty : for the sentence is only pronounced 
against that which was made of the dust of the ground. 
If the soul was not made of the dust, it has no connec- 
tion with the dust, and once it quits the dust and returns 
to God, it is entirely free from every punishment to which 
man is subjected. Behold the consequence that must 
follow if the mystical-soul theory could be true ? It 
would do away withHhe necessity of a Redeemer, as 
death would accomplish everything that they pray and 
preach and labor for — " even the salvation of the im- 
mortal soul." 

Finally, before closing our remarks on this text, we 
boldly assert, without fear of successful contradiction, 
that neither from reason, revelation, nor yet from any 
sensible appearance in nature, can it be shown that man 
has dwelling in him any such entity or being as the 
theological soul is described to mean .; and if it could be 
shown, justice would not demand that man should be 
accountable for the fate of said being ; and also, that 
neither the loss nor salvation, the happiness nor misery 
of this mystical being could affect the man. 

The idea, that there is in man a being of such vast 
importance to himself as the soul is said to be, and that 



WHAT SPIRIT RETURNS TO GOD, ETC. 41 

the man should pass a life of twenty, forty, eighty, or 
one hundred years without ascertaining either its nature, 
character, or dimensions, or any of its appearances — 
cannot tell whether it is at peace or in trouble — happy 
or miserable, sick or in health, dead or alive (!) suf- 
fering pain or enjoying pleasurable emotions — that I, 
who write this paragraph, should have lived the whole 
of my life thus far without one particle of evidence that 
there is in me such being as the theological soul is de- 
scribed to mean ; and, as I certainly shall die without 
the least evidence — that God will raise me from death, 
and arraign and condemn me for not taking care of 
that which I knew nothing about, and keep me in eter- 
nal conscious misery for not doing what was impossible 
for me to do ; viz. : bless, or ban, or control what I 
never saw, nor heard, nor felt, nor knew aught as to its 
nature or dimensions. Why, Satan himself would not 
be cruel enough to punish man for neglecting such be- 
ing, bow much less the merciful God, the author of all 
justice, and Father of love ! Forbid it, 0, ye heavens 
and earth, that I should thus think of the Father of 
mercies and the God of all grace ! ! ! No, no ; away 
with such pious trash. " The judge of all will do right." 
If God should have given to man such being as this theo- 
logical soul, he would reveal something concerning it, and. 
tell man what it is. This he has notdone, and for this rea- 
son, as well as from our own observation and reason, we 
conclude that man has no such character in him. Nei- 
ther will God ever bring any one to trial or judgment for 
any being, or the acts of any being other than himself. 
What makes this mystical theory supremely foolish to 
me is, the idea that we can know in death what we do 
not know in life. That is, we can tell all about the 
soul when we are dead, although we cannot tell any- 
thing about it while alive (!). 

In conclusion, for as much as Solomon's exhortation 
is to man in general, and to the wicked in particular, 
we think a sectarian religionist could not have selected 
a more unhappy text for the support of his peculiar sec- 
tional theory than the one under consideration. Hav- 
4* 



42 THE LIGHT. 

ing generally and deridingly recommended the thought- 
less youth to walk according to the imaginations of his 
heart and the sight of his eyes — meantime, assuring him 
that for all these things God would bring him to judgment 
—for this reason he recommends him to lay aside the follies 
of childhood and the vanities of youth, and remember 
his Creator in the days of his youth, before all the pe- 
culiar circumstances mentioned in the six first verses 
shall take place, and his dissolution is accomplished by 
the dust returning to its native dust, and the power by 
which he was animated returning to its original source 
—to God.— Eccl., 11 : 9 ; 12 : 7. 

Solomon does not tell the thoughtless youth what one 
of our modern Gentile philosophers would, that, unless he 
gets religion, his " immortal soul" will be cast into hell, 
where it will be through all eternity cooking, but can 
never get cooked, in a fire of brimstone, and where he is to 
be eternally mingling his voice with the bowlings of the 
damned, and dying the '* death that never dies ;" that 
he must be perpetually multiplying the provocation of 
his punishment by cursing God and loving the devil, 
and that the worm that is to gnaw and devour his im- 
material vitals (!)can never die, andthe fire that shall con- 
sume his inconsumable immaterial substance is never to 
be quenched ; but he traces, step by step, the course of his 
natural decay, through old age, till the silver cord become 
loosed and the golden bowl be broken at the fountain, 
and the wheel be broken at the cistern [see explanation, 
page 80] then shall the dust return to the dust as it was 
before man's creation, and the spirit or animating power 
returns to God who gave it. In this condition, Solomon 
says, he shall remain, knowing nothing of the good nor 
the evil " that is transacted under the sun," until God 
shall again call him to judgment ; hence said Solo- 
mon — 

" Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter : Fear 
God and keep his commandments ; for this is the whole 
duty of man. For God shall bring every work into 
judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or 
Whether it be evil."— Eccl. 12 : 13, 14. 



i 



I 



CHAPTER IY. 
THE PARABLE OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 

" There was a certain rich man which was clothed in 
purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day ; 
and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which 
was laid at his gate, full of sores and desiring to be fed 
with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table : 
moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. And it 
came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by 
the angels into Abraham's bosom ; the rich man also died, 
and was buried : and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being 
in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in 
his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, 
have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip 
the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I 
am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said : Son, 
remember that thou, in thy lifetime, receivedst thy good 
things, and likewise Lazarus evil things ; but now, he is 
comforted, and thou art tormented. 

" And beside all this, between us and you, there is a 
great gulf fixed ; so that they which would pass from 
hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that 
would come from thence. 

" Then he said I pray thee, Father Abraham, that 
thou wouldest send him to my father's house — for I 
have five brethren — that he may testify unto thern 
lest they also come unto this place of torment. 
Abraham said unto him : they have Moses and the 
Prophets, let them hear them. He said : Nay, Father 
Abraham, but if one went to them from the dead, they 
will repent. And he said unto him : If they hear not 
Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded 
though one rose from the dead." — Luke 16 : 19-31. 

This portion of Scripture is supposed by the self- 
styled orthodox theologians to afford unanswerable 
proof for the theory that the dead are conscious and 
that the wicked shall be endlessly tormented with insuf- 
ferable fire and pains. Some of them are at a loss, 
however, as to whether the narrative is to be regarded 
as a parable or a historical fact. The majority are in 



44 THE LIGHT. 

favor of the latter, and therefore decided, while the 
position of the minority is indefinite from the indecision 
and uncertainty of their words and writings on the sub- 
ject. But no matter how much they may differ as to 
its real or allegorical meaning, they make common 
cause in insisting that it proves the consciousness of the 
dead and their eternal conscious torments. 

Now, I propose to shoiv that it proves neither the one 
nor the other, by showing that it was not meant to repre- 
sent either. But, before I proceed to the direct expla- 
nation of the text, I would remark that, in whatever 
light this subject is viewed, it can prove nothing as to 
the final condition of the wicked after the judgment, 
as the account relates to time prior to the judgment, 
and, therefore, cannot determine the sinner's final state, 
unless the manifest absurdity, that God punishes before 
he judges, be maintained. 

First, the whole narrative is either a literal relation 
of facts or it is a parable. John Wesley speaks of it 
as follows : — " But is the subsequent account merely a 
parable or a real history? It has been believed by 
many, and roundly asserted to be a parable, because of 
one or two circumstances therein which are not easy to 
be accounted for. In particular, it is hard to conceive 
how a person in hell could hold conversation with one 
in Paradise." 

" But, admitting we cannot account for this, will it 
overbalance an express assertion of our Lord ? There 
was, says our Lord, a certain rich man. Was there 
not? says John Wesley. Did such a man ever exist ? 
And there ivas a certain beggar named Lazarus. Was 
there not ? says Mr. Wesley. Is it not bold enough, 
positively to deny what our blessed Lord positively 
affirms ? Therefore, says Wesley, we cannot reasonably 
doubt but the whole narration with all its circumstances 
is exactly {literally) true." 

Dr. Adam Clarke, in his commentary, assumes a neu- 
tral ground in relation to this subject. It may or may 
not, in his opinion, be a parable ; which is tantamount 
to saying, that it may be a parable or it may be a lite- 



THE PARABLE OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 45 

ral historical fact, or it may be neither a parable nor a 
historical fact, and, therefore, the whole narrative, 
" with all its circumstances," may be a falsehood. 

Those who teach that it is a literal narration of facts, 
have, in my opinion, no less difficulty in explaining it 
than their opponents. One thing is certain, they can- 
not explain it all literally, and this they are bound to 
do or give it up. 

Lazarus, covered with sores, died, and was carried by 
angels into Abraham's bosom. Is this literal ? no, 
say they. It was Lazarus' soul that the angels carried 
to Abraham's bosom. But our Lord says it was Laza- 
rus that was carried there. G-entilism says, not so, 
Lord, it was his soul. In the words of John Wesley, 
Is it not bold enough, positively to deny what our 
blessed Lord positively affirms? Let us see whether 
they get along any better with their literal history of 
the rich man. He also died. 

Well, what became of him? We are told that he 
was buried. Remember, the rich man was buried. And 
what next ? In hell (Hades, the grave where he was 
buried, improperly translated hell) he (the rich man) 
lifted up his eyes, being in torments. Well, and what 
did he see there ? " And seeth Abraham afar off, and 
Lazarus in his bosom." Remember, now, the rich man 
did all this. Not so, said gent il ism, it was his soul. But 
our Lord says it was the rich man did it. Thus the 
reader can see that Gentile theology, in order to establish 
its superstitious traditions, not only makes void the 
words of our blessed Lord, but actually contradicts 
them. So much for the literal historical theory. 

But to show the folly of their position the more com- 
plete, we will admit that it was the soul or spirit, or 
both perhaps, of both these men that were disembodied 
in Hades, the grave. We now ask the doctors of gen- 
tilism, are their disembodied souls or spirits material 
or immaterial 1 They answer, immaterial. Very 
well, then, if so, they have no body or substance. How 
can that which has no body or substance be seen, or 
touched, or felt ? But gentilism tells us of an imma- 



46 THE LIGHT. 

terial rich man, in immaterial flames , with immaterial 
eyes, seeing an immaterial Lazarus, in the immaterial 
bosom oi immaterial Abraham, and to be consistent, all 
this took place in an immaterial hell. Immaterial eyes 
must be keen sighted to behold an immaterial nothing. 
An immaterial body or substance is, were it possible, 
worse than immaterial nonsense. It is a material false- 
hood, as it gives the idea of reality to that which is but 
a fiction. An immaterial something is equivalent to 
nothing material, and conveys the same meaning as if 
one said, / have got nothing ; I have seen nothing ; I 
have found nothing ; I have felt or touched nothing. 
An immaterial rich or poor man means neither a rich 
nor a poor man. So that an immaterialisl means a no- 
thin gist ; an immaterial soul means no soul. 

Bat this is not all. Their principle of interpretation 
would have us believe that an immaterial rich man de- 
sires that an immaterial Lazarus should dip his imma- 
terial finger in literal or material water, and cool his 
literal or material tongue. All this, of course, is lite- 
ral history (!) , but if they will have one drop of mate- 
rial water to cool the immaterial heat of an immaterial 
tongue, then they will make the whole affair a very 
grave or material hoax, and exhibit to the world their 
material folly . The word immaterial is not found in 
the Bible, but is coined to feed the fancy of the super- 
stitious. Immaterial is the opposite to material — the 
negative of something real. As darkness is nothing 
but the absence of light, and death is nothing but the 
absence of life, so immaterial is the absence of mate- 
rial. It is nothing. I have placed this subject in the 
present light to show the advocates of immaterialism 
the absurdity of the theory of their literal historical 
facts. 

There are many reasons which combine to show that 
the case of the rich man and Lazarus is a parable or al- 
legory. First, it is preceded by a group of parables — ■ 
the lost sheep, the piece of silver, the prodigal son, etc. — 
all designed to show God's forbearance and mercy to- 
wards the Gentiles, and his readiness to, any moment, 



THE PARABLE OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 47 

accept their repentance, and bestow on them the favors 
of his grace. The covetous and self-righteous Phari- 
sees, hearing these parabolical representations, were 
greatly offended and derided Christ. — See verse 14. 
Seeing their hypocrisy and hardness of heart, the 
Saviour, by this parable, did, in the most clear and forci- 
ble manner, set forth their rejection of God, as, also, 
their utter dispersion and consequent downfall as a 
people. 

But, received as a literal history of facts, there is no- 
thing in the whole narrative that would show any just 
cause for the punishment of the rich man, or the happi- 
ness of the poor man, Lazarus ; for there is nothing in 
it to show the crimes of the one, or the righteousness of 
the other, unless it be a crime to be rich and a virtue 
to be poor ; and we need not go to the history of the 
ancient fathers to see that this is not so — God blessed 
Jacob, Abraham, Joseph, and other holy men, with great 
worldly prosperity. But the general conduct of pro- 
fessing Christians (the teachers of religion not excepted) , 
— their desire to accumulate property — will acquit the 
rich man, in my opinion. 

It is said " he was rich." Is this a crime ? If so, it 
is to be feared most of our deacons and ruling men in 
the churches are guilty as he was ; for they all strive 
to get rich, and some may strive unlawfully. Well, but 
" He fared sumptuously every day." This was not for- 
bidden by any ordinance of the law, and let the wealthy 
Christian, who is not guilty, cast the first stone ; par- 
ticularly those who have their thousands for preaching 
the poverty and example of Christ. You, who are not 
satisfied with plain food, but must have your rich and 
extravagant delicacies, have compassion on this rich 
brother, against whom there is no charge of excess, 
either in eating or drinking, but simply living according 
to his ordinary custom and means. He is not accused of 
riotous conduct, of licentious discourse, of gaming or 
frequenting balls, plays or theatres, or of speaking an 
irreverent word against divine revelation, or of any 
ordinance of God, or of any misconduct whatever. 



48 THE LIGHT. 

Neither is lie accused of any disorderly conduct or crime 
against the laws of society. In short, from Christ's 
description of the rich man, he seems in no way culpa- 
ble. His only crime seems that of being rich, dressing 
in good clothes and eating good food. This is all the 
evil spoken of the man. Taking all things into consid 
eration, my opinion is this, that, compared with, not 
only rich men in general, but with rich professors of 
religion in particular, he was not only blameless but a 
virtuous man. 

But some have an idea that he was an " uncharitable, 
hard-hearted, and unfeeling wretch" There is no 
foundation for such conception. Our Lord, certainly 
does not represent him in any such light. Neither does 
Abraham. Abraham gives no cause for his reproba- 
tion, other than that in this life he had his good things. 
He does not say that he was sent to hell by any decree 
of Providence, because he was elected to be damned ; 
or for any misconduct whatever ; or saying, Lazarus 
was hungry and thou gavest him no meat, he was 
thirsty and thou gavest him no drink, etc. The only 
charge is, " Son, remember that thou didst receive thy 
good things in thy lifetime." So far from seeing any 
evil that the rich man has ever done, we find that he is 
benevolent even in death. " Send him to my father's 
house." 

On the literal history ground we are at a loss to re- 
concile the idea of Abraham's being the father of the 
damned, with the common and scriptural view of his 
being the father of the just by faith only. The rich 
man addresses himself to Abraham as Father, and 
Abraham replies " my Son," thus by no means indicat- 
ing that their relation is severed by their state or cir- 
cumstances. 

It is true that Abraham notifies his Son of the exist- 
ence of an impassable gulf which neither could cross, 
and which the son could not perceive, yet piously ad- 
mitted on the authority of his father Abraham's word. 
Now I cannot help thinking that if there was a real 
gulf, this son of Abraham could see it with as much 



PARABLE OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 49 

facility as he could see his father Abraham, who seems 
to have been at a greater distance off. 

Again, the literal rendering of this passage would go 
to prove that father Abraham is also in hell, and in the 
same hell that his rich son was, or is — with this differ- 
ence — that the son was in the fire, while father Abra- 
ham was comfortably enjoying the heat of it. " The 
rich man lifted up his eyes in hell," and looking around 
him, who should he first recognize but Abraham. 

In short, the literal interpretation of this narrative 
would make the most literal nonsense one can well ima- 
gine. It would lead us to infer that there were two 
men in Jerusalem. One a wealthy, amiable, and chari- 
table citizen ; the other, a loathsome and distressed 
looking object ; a beggar who obtained his daily food 
at the rich man's gate, and whose ulcerated carcass at- 
tracted the scent even of the dog:s. 

This poor man died first, and was carried, sores and 
all, by the angels to the Patriarch Abraham, and laid 
in his bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried 
in hell ; and upon looking around him, who should he 
first recognize but Abraham and Lazarus in his bosom. 
And upon ascertaining from Abraham that his own 
case was hopeless, he began to urge upon his father 
Abraham the propriety of sending some one from hell 
to preach the gospel to those whom he had left behind 
on earth. But Abraham, very sensibly, told him that 
they who would not believe the writings of Moses and 
the prophets,were not likely to be persuaded into piety by 
devils. Such only is the lesson we could reasonably in- 
fer from a literal interpretation of this parable. And 
we leave the reader to pass his own judgment upon the 
consistency and truthfulness of such history. 

[Now, notwithstanding many piously imagine that 
the rich man in the parable was a voluptuous, bad char- 
acter, I very much doubt whether there can many rich 
men be found in our land, who would allow such an ab- 
ject-looking character, as Lazarus was, daily at their 
gate. I fear they would soon give him in charge of a 
policeman.] 
5 



50 THE LIGHT. 

THE REASONABLE EXPLANATION OP THE PASSAGE. 

Having shown that no sense can be made of a literal 
interpretation of this narrative, and having denied that 
it was intended to represent the condition of the sinner 
after the judgment, I will present an outline of the 
moral set forth in its allegorical meaning. 

" An Allegory is a figurative discourse, in which 
somethino- is intended other than is contained in the 
words literally taken." — Johnson. 

" A Parable is a comparison or similitude, in which 
one thing is compared with another, especially spiritual 
things with natural, by which means these spiritual 
things are better understood, and make a deeper im- 
pression on the attentive mind." — Adam Clarke. 

I am inclined to receive this narrative as an allegory, 
rather than a parable — although it will make sense in 
either case — but. none, whatever, as a literal history. 

Our Saviour, in all his teachings, addressed his dis- 
courses to the understanding of the common people, and 
it is said, " they heard him gladly." The better to ac- 
complish this end, he illustrated the principles of heav- 
enly things by the use of parables and allegorical rep- 
resentations — a practice common to all public teachers 
in his age and country. 

The self-righteous and hypocritical Scribes and Phari- 
sees, annoyed because of his attention to the poor, often 
mocked and derided him, especially on the occasion refer- 
red to. The change, which was soon to take place in 
the religious and political condition of both parties, is 
clearly set forth in this allegorical discourse. 

The rich man signifies the Jewish people, for they 
were, for many years, rich and honorable — abounding 
with means of obtaining divine knowledge, wisdom, and 
instruction— things more excellent than the most 
precious gold. And they were arrayed in " purple and 
fine linen." They were citizens of a kingdom, and had a 
royal priesthood, who were clothed in sacerdotal vest- 
ments of "fine linen," and they fared sumptuously 
every day — on the sacrifices of the altar. 



PARABLE OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 51 

And Lazarus represented the Gentiles : poor in di- 
vine knowledge, wisdom, and grace, and lying before 
the rich man's gates, as they were not permitted to en- 
ter the house, nor courts of God, lest they pollute it. 
[See Acts 21 : 28, and 25 : 5. One of the charges 
brought by his accusers against Paul was, that he had 
polluted the temple by the introduction of Gentiles into 
its consecrated halls.] 

Moreover, the poor Gentile was covered with the 
fetid sores of sin, on which the dogs, or devils, who de- 
light themselves in the calamities of men, fed. Like- 
wise, also, they desired to be fed from the crumbs, even, 
which fell from the rich man's table ; for they were des- 
titute of divine revelation — the food which strengthens 
and enlivens the heart of man. [See the case of the 
Canaanite woman, Matthew 15 : 27.] 

" And it came to pass that the beggar died." The 
phrase, " it came to pass" denotes an unusual occur- 
rence, which could not be true of a literal death, as that 
was an e very-day affair. There is not a w r ord said of 
his burial, which, of necessity, must take place in case 
of natural death. His absence from the rich man's 
gate, where only he could obtain food, is noticed, and 
upon inquiry it is ascertained that the angels have 
translated him to Abraham's bosom. Xow, in scriptur- 
al phraseology, the angels are the preachers of the gos- 
pel, and Abraham's bosom is Abraham's faith. Abra- 
ham was justified by faith when a Gentile, and he w r as 
an acceptable worshiper of the true God, thirteen years 
before he became a Jew by circumcision. [See call and 
history of Abraham, Genesis 12. His circumcision, 
Gen. 17 : 24 ; Rom. 4 : 10.] Now, then, forasmuch as 
the Bible invariably represents death as a curse or ca- 
lamity, the wages of sin, and the death of the poor man 
is represented not as a curse, but a blessing — a change 
from misery to bliss — it is evident that the Lazarus at 
the gate does not denote an individual mau merely, 
but a people — the heathen. It was heathen idolatry 
that died — the subjects of it, having received the prom- 
ises of the Gospel, were justified by faith, and car- 



52 THE LIGHT. 

ried by the angels of the Gospel into Abraham's bosom. 
Their death was a change of condition, an exaltation — 
not a degradation — and as Abraham's bosom was well 
understood by every Jew to be Abraham's faith, an ex- 
alted position with God, the case of the beggar was by 
them easily understood. 

" The rich man also died and was buried in hell" 
Mark the difference — one died to misery and degrada- 
tion, and was highly exalted ; the other died to honor and 
ease, and was degraded. The pomp and ostentation of 
the Jewish priesthood and their ceremonial rites — nay, 
their worthless carcass is represented as cast in — 
gehanah — the valley of the sons of Hennom, called 
hell — where all loathsome things were burned by fire. 
This was intended to augment the depth of their hu- 
miliation and give intensity to the deep degradation 
that awaited them as a nation and people, and all the 
force and intensity of the allegorical prediction was jus- 
tified in their subsequent history. In which condition 
the rich man lifted up his eyes, being tormented by the 
flames of his jealousy at seeing the beggar rejoicing — 
being recognized as Abraham's son, the evidence of 
which was clear by his reclining on his bosom. The 
miraculous operations of the spirit of God amongst the 
Gentile believers, was to the Jews an unmistakable evi- 
dence that the Gentiles were the recognized people of 
God, while the absence of any such signs amongst them- 
selves was as conclusive a proof that they were rejected 
and forsaken of God. 

The Jews were always filled with rage and jealousy 
at the least intimation of the Gospel's being preached 
to the Gentiles. When* Christ said, " ye shall seek me, 
and shall not find me, and where I am, thither ye cannot 
come," the Jews deridingly asked — " will he go unto 
the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles," 
— Jno. 7 : 34, 35. When Paul preached at Thessalonica, 
and many of the Gentiles believed, the Jews, moved with 
envy, took certain lewd fellows, of the baser sort, and 
raised a mob, " and set all the city in an uproar." — Acta 
17 : 5. Having been driven from thence, the Apostle 



PARABLE OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 53 

went to Berea, and there preached with much success ; 
but when the Jews of Thessalonica heard that the noble 
Bereans had received the Gospel, they came thither 
also, and stirred up the people, v. 13 ; and so deep- 
rooted was their spirit of jealousy, and so powerful did 
it burn in their breasts, that the believing Jews, in a 
formal council, tried the Apostle Peter, on a charge of 
profanity, for eating with the believing Gentiles — 
although they knew the Holy Spirit descended on them, 
as also on the believing Jews. — Acts 11 : 2. 

Perceiving an unmistakable evidence that Lazarus, i. e. 
the Gentiles, was recognized the son of Abraham, the 
rich man, i. e.,the Jews, became willing to acknowledge 
the brotherhood of the poor man ; hence, the rich man 
demands of their common father, Abraham, to send 
Lazarus with a small quantity of water, to cool his 
tongue, and ease his misery. Abraham, while he still re- 
cognized the rich man as his son, reminds him that in his 
day he had all the good things, but Lazarus has them 
now — moreover, that there is an impassable gulf of dis- 
tinction, to prevent the commingling of the elements 
with which they were respectively surrounded. . . . 

Now, this water is emblematically the Gospel, which 
the Jews, seeing they could not hinder its progress 
among the Gentiles, desired to have coupled with the 
law, and combined into one system ; but this they 
could not effect, as our Saviour clearly taught. When 
the disciples of John Baptist, and the Pharisees who 
fasted and prayed much in compliance with their re- 
spective notions of religion, came and asked him why 
his disciples were not bound by the same rules, Jesus 
showed them that the laws of his moral government were 
altogether different, and had no relation to theirs — that 
the robes with which he clothed his disciples, and the 
wine with which he cheered their hearts, was of an- 
other order ; and that no sensible man would put new 
cloth on an old garment, nor new wine into old bottles, 
as neither could contain what was put into them. 

So, in like manner, the rich man's position rendered 
him incapable of being benefited by the water which 
5* 



54 THE LIGHT. 

Lazarus could fetch, even if it were lawful for Lazarus 
to carry him any while in that state. No one can at- 
tentively read the Epistles of Paul, without perceiving 
that the burden of their contents is to prove that be- 
lievers are justified in the sight of God, through faith in 
Jesus Christ as their Saviour, without obedience to the 
ceremonies of the Mosaic law ; and that the reward of 
the righteous, as also the punishment of the wicked, is 
to succeed the resurrection of each from death ; and 
that, throughout the whole Bible, except in this instance, 
when allusion is made to the condition of the dead, 
they are represented as being unconscious and separ- 
ated from all participation in either the good or the 
evil that is transacted under the sun — their love, and 
their hatred, and their envy, being alike suspended in 
death. 

One feature, only, remains to be noticed, viz. , the rich 
man's desire to send Lazarus to his father's house, be- 
cause of the number of its inhabitants, in hopes the re- 
mainder may possibly be saved. And Abraham's reply 
explains the application of the whole subject. It shows 
that the Jews required more than necessary evideuce 
to convince them that Jesus was the Christ. " They 
have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. If 
they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be 
persuaded, though one should arise from the dead." 

This last sentence is the key to explain the whole 
allegory. Jesus represents the circumstances and final 
condition of both nations or people, by the fabulous 
supposition of these two men holding conversation in 
hell, Hades, the grave, and turns the weight of the 
whole case on this last point, that if the Jews would 
not hear or believe the writings of Moses and the pro- 
phets in reference to his own Messiahs/up, they would 
reject the testimony of one raised from death. And 
subsequent events clearly proved the correctness of this 
statement ; for Jesus did actually raise a literal Laza- 
rus from literal and physical death in the presence of 
many Jews, several of whom both knew Lazarus per- 
sonally, and that he was dead and buried, and saw him 



PARABLE OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUkS. 55 

alive after Christ had raised him, besides all this, they 
had the testimony of many of their own people who 
were present and saw Christ call him out of the tomb. 
But what effect did all this have on them ? It increased 
the flame of their jealous rage, and to that extent that 
they consulted among themselves as to how they could 
conveniently put him to death again ; for he was a liv- 
ing monument of the omnipotent power of Him whom 
they derided and mocked, because his works showed 
that he was the Son of God, and the Redeemer of the 
world. 

It is in its allegorical sense alone, that this beautiful 
scriptural narrative can have any meaning. It repre- 
sents Abraham as the father both of the Jewish and 
Gentile believers. In his justification by faith, Abra- 
ham receives the Gentile Lazarus into his bosom, and 
he justly calls himself the father of the rich man, Jew, 
as the federal head of his circumcision. But the doc- 
trine, that makes Abraham the father both of the saved 
and damned, appears to me very absurd ; which notion 
must follow the literal interpretation of the whole narra- 
tive, " with all its circumstances. ." 

No parable or allegory can reasonably be used to 
teach a doctrine not elsewhere explicitly revealed in 
Scripture. The doctrine that the literal interpretation 
of this narrative would establish, is not only not taught 
elsewhere in Scripture, but the uniform teaching of the 
Holy Scriptures contradicts it, and the teacher of re- 
ligion, who tries to build upon it a theory that is as 
fabulous as it is dishonoring to God, and contrary to 
the dictates of human justice, must either be lacking in 
scriptural wisdom, or seared in conscience. 

Now, the portions of Scripture, where things without 
life are represented as having both feeling and know- 
ledge, are too numerous for my limits to quote and 
comment on. Yet this custom was too well understood 
by the Hebrews, not to understand the depth and mean- 
ing of our Saviour's words on that memorable occa- 
sion. 

"See the eagles cropping the trees." Ezk, 19 : 1-10. 



56 THE LIGHT. 

" Parable.— Ewe Lamb." 2 Saml. 12 : 1-7. 

" The trees choosing a king." Judges 9 : 7-15. 

If it will be insisted that the rich man must be con- 
scious, because he is said to see, and/ee/, and talk, I will 
insist that the trees must also be sensible, because they 
are said to do the same. And the parable of the ewe 
lamb must be a literal history, because it is related or 
represented as such. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST. 

" And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias 
talking ivith him." — Matt. 17 : 3. 

A correspondent of mine, quoting this passage as 
proof of the immortality of sinners, says : 

" I will not make any further remark in reference to 
this text than this : That Moses appeared to the disci- 
ples on the mountain, when we know that he was em- 
bosomed in the tomb in a valley of Moab, over against 
Beth-Peor. Now, I will not allow you to dig up the 
body, but let it rest where the Scripture tells us it is, 
and then please to say what was on the Mount of Trans- 
figuration called Moses ?" 

Without any desire on my part to meddle with the 
body of Moses, even if his " sepulchre were known unto 
this day" my answer is this : Moses himself was on the 
Mount of Transfiguration, either by a special resurrec- 
tion or in vision. But as my correspondent will not 
allow me to " dig up the body of Moses, but leave it 
where the Scriptures say it is," I must insist that the 
disciples saw u Moses, the servant of God," in vision ; 
that is, they saw a visionary representation of Moses. 

The Scriptures inform us (2 Kings, ch. 2), that Elijah 
was translated to heaven (about 920 years previous to 
the transfiguration) without seeing death. "So Moses, 
the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, 
and he (the Lord) buried him in a valley in the land of 



58 THE LIGHT. 

Moab, over against Beth-Peor, but no man knoweth of 
his sepulchre unto this day." — D.eut. 34 : 5. 

Moses was dead about 1,483 years, and Elijah was 
translated about 920 before the transfiguration of Christ 
on the Mount. Now, in asking my correspondent, I 
ask all, How came the disciples to know Moses and 
Elijah ? — -men whom they had never seen before, and 
with whom they had no personal acquaintance ; one of 
whom had been dead nearly 1,500 years, and the other 
translated from this earth over nine hundred years. 
How came Peter, James, and John to know these men 
personally? As the Holy Scriptures do not tell us, 
perhaps our correspondent, or some Gentile doctor, 
will. 

Observe, the inspired historian does not say that it 
was Moses' soul, or spirit, that was on the mount, but 
that Moses himself was there in his personal character, 
just as Elijah and Christ were in their personal charac- 
ters there. The only difference there seems between the 
three is, their personal identities. Each was there char- 
acteristically alike. 

Again, Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ in 
glory (see Luke 9 : 31.), whereas neither Moses nor 
Christ, at any rate, was at the time glorified. Christ 
told his disciples on several occasions that he must first 
suffer death and then enter into his glory. — Luke 26 : 
24, 25. 

Now, Christ had not at the time, in reality, either 
suffered or entered into his glory. Yet he was to be 
the first fruits of them that slept— the first born, 
or begotten, from the dead, to die no more and sit in 
glory. But the literal interpretation of the text would 
have Moses in gloi'y before him. 

Furthermore, the literal rendering would have Christ 
also glorified before he was in fact glorified, and would 
make him inconsistently pray for what had already 
taken place, as, after the transfiguration took place, 
Christ prayed : " And now, Father, glorify thou me 
with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee 
before the world was," — John 17 : 1-5. 



THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST. 59 

From the above and many other reasons which might 
be adduced, it is evident that the disciples saw only a 
visionary type of Christ's kingdom and glory at the 
Mount, and that neither Moses nor Elijah was there in 
reality, but only in vision. No reasonable person can 
suppose the scene was a literal reality, or that one part 
of what they saw was visionary, while the other was 
real. One thing is certain, at any rate ; the advocates of 
an immaterial soul derive no real support from this por- 
tion of divine revelation ; as an immaterial Moses and 
an immaterial Elijah could not be seen by a material 
Peter, James, and John. Neither does it appear to me 
as a good evidence of a man's spiritual wisdom, that he 
quotes this text to prove that Moses is in reality both 
dead and alive at the same moment. The Scriptures 
declare that Moses died and that God buried him : but 
it is nowhere declared that he has yet had a resurrection 
from the state of death, a thing absolutely necessary be- 
fore he can in reality be seen. 



THE TEXT EXPLAINED. 

The meaning of this portion of divine truth must 
appear delightful as it is simple to any one familiar with 
his Bible. 

Christ, for the first time, began to teach his disciples 
that he must go into Jerusalem, and there suffer many 
things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and 
be killed and be raised again the third day (see Mat. 16 : 
21, to the end). Peter, on this occasion, through love for 
his master, called him one side, and began to remon- 
strate, saying, be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not 
happen unto thee — or in other words, have compassion 
on thyself, Lord, and avoid so great a calamity — why 
run into such danger. But he (Christ) turned unto 
Peter and said, get thee behind me, Satan, etc. 

" Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man 
will come after me, let him take up his cross and follow 
me : For whosoever shall save his life shall lose it ; and 



60 THE LIGHT. 

whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it ; 
for what- is a man profited if he shall gain the whole 
world and lose his own life, and what shall a man 
give in exchange for his lift" Then, for the encour- 
agement of those who were in danger of losing their 
lives for his sake, Jesus showed that there shall be a life 
beyond the grave, in which they shall be richly rewarded. 
" For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his 
Father with his angels ; and then he shall reward every 
man according to his works." 

I think the teacher of religion, who cannot see the 
drift and design of Christ's teaching on this occasion, 
must be a blind leader. Christ, by the first, was pre- 
paring the minds of his disciples for the tragical scene 
of his death, which was then close at hand. And by 
the second, he was establishing in their hearts the hope 
of his second coming in his kingdom and glory, at which 
time he will raise all his disciples from the state of 
death, and reward them with eternal life, and give them 
the possession of the kingdom, which, on another occa- 
sion, he told them he was going to prepare for them, 
and for all that love his appearing and kingdom. Thus 
would they be prepared for the terrible scenes that so soon 
awaited them, and be reconciled to it in view of the 
great consequences and blessings involved. 

" Yerily I say unto you, there be some standing here 
which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of 
Man coming in his kingdom." Now, without the trans- 
figuration, this promise could have no meaning, as all 
the apostles did taste of death,and have not yet seen Christ 
in reality come into his kingdom, but when the trans- 
figuration is understood to be a type of Christ's second 
coming and his kingdom, everything is easy and 
clear. 

" Then after six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and 
John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high 
mountain apart, and was transfigured before them ; and 
his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white 
as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them 
Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered 



THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST. 61 

Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord it is good for us to be 
here : If thou will, let us make here three tabernacles. 
One for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. 
While he yet spake behold a bright cloud overshadow- 
ed them, and behold a voice out of the cloud, which 
said, This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased : 
hear ye him * *. And as they came down from the 
mountain, Jesus charged them, saying : Tell the vision 
to no man, until the Son of Man be risen from the 
dead." 

From the reasonable meaning of the Holy Scrip- 
tures, we understand the transfiguration on the Mount 
to be a typical representation of the majesty and glory 
of Christ at his second coming. And the appearance 
of Moses and Elijah with him on that occasion, we un- 
derstand as representing some of the characteristics of 
his coming and kingdom. We are not to look in this 
transaction for the general features of Christ's kingdom, 
but only for that leading characteristic which the Scrip- 
tures, in numerous instances, present before our mind — 
viz. : That when the Lord Jesus will appear, he will re- 
suscitate and wake up the dead saints, and change the 
living saints into that immortal and incorruptible state 
of nature which shall characterize all the subjects of 
his eternal kingdom. Hence, said Paul, in writing to 
the Thgssalonians, " I would not have you ignorant, 
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye 
sorrow not even as others which have no hope : For if 
we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them 
also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him : 
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, 
that we, which are alive and remain unto the coming of 
the Lord, shall not prevent (that is go to heaven be- 
fore) them which are asleep : For the Lord Jesus him- 
self shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the 
voice of the archangel and with the trump of God ; 
and the dead in Christ shall rise first : then we that 
are alive and remain shall be caught up together with 
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air : And 
so shall we ever be with the Lord." — 1 Thes. 4 : 13-17. 
6 



62 THE LIGHT. 

Again : " Behold I show you a mystery, (or reveal 
to you what has heretofore been a mystery). We 
shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a mo- 
ment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump : 
For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be 
raised incorruptible : And we shall be changed. For 
this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mor- 
tal shall put on immortality," etc. 

Now, on the Mount of Transfiguration we behold the 
perfect representation of this fact, in the symbolical 
appearance of Moses and Elijah with Christ — Moses, 
who died nearly 1,500 years previous to that transaction 
representing the dead saints who shall be raised — and 
Elijah, who was translated alive over 900 years, repre- 
senting the saints who shall be living and translated 
with the resurrected dead, when Christ shall come the 
second time. 

There are some good people who imagine that Moses 
had a special resurrection to appear on the Mount of 
Transfiguration, as the Prophet Samuel had to confound 
both Saul and the Witch of Endor, and that, as Samuel 
returned again to his rest in death, so Moses returned to 
the place where God had hid him in the grave. But, 
while this is an infinitely more reasonable theory than 
the notion that Moses is both living and dead at the 
same moment, still it is forced, too far-fetched, unsup- 
ported by reason, and contrary to the account furnished 
us of this sublime transaction on that memorable 
occasion ; as also to the whole tenor of revealed 
truth. 

Our Saviour called the whole a " vision" the mean- 
ing of which is, a supernatural representation of a 
reality, but not the reality itself. 

The Prophet Daniel had a vision in which he saw 
the various political and religious changes which took 
place from his day to the present. He saw beasts and 
characters representing the different kingdoms, the man- 
ner of their rule, and their diversity, down till he saw 
" the Ancient of Days sit, whose garments were white as 
snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool, his 



THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST. 63 

throne was like the fiery flame and his wheels as burn- 
ing fire." — Dan. 7 : 9, 10. And at the appearance of 
Gabriel who showed Daniel these things, he fell down 
on his face with fear, just as the disciples did when they 
saw the glorified appearance of Christ. 

Gabriel touched Daniel with his right hand and made 
him stand on his feet (Danl. 10: 10), just as Christ 
touched the disciples and made them stand on their feet. 
" And he came and touched them, and said, arise, and 
be not afraid."— Mat. 17:7. 

The Apostle John, also, when he was banished on 
the isle called Patmos, being in the spirit on the Lord's 
day, had a vision, and he saw in the midst of the seven 
golden candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man. 
This same John was one of the three apostles whose 
peculiar privilege it was to behold Christ coming in his 
kingdom. That is, his transfiguration, as the type of 
his coming and kingdom. And John recognized Christ 
as the same person whom he had seen on the Mount of 
Transfiguration and on the isle called Patmos. " And 
when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead ; and he laid 
his right hand upon me, saying, fear not," etc. 

Now, then, be it remembered, that in this vision, 
John saw everything as perfect (if not more'so) as the 
natural eye could possibly behold. He saw all the per- 
secutions and trials of the saints of God, and when the 
fifth seal was opened, he saw under the altar the souls 
of them who were slain for the word of God, and for 
the testimony which they held. And he heard them 
cry with aloud voice, saying : " How long, Lord holy 
and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on 
them that dwell upon the earth " 

The reader will observe that the souls which John 
saw under the altar were not created when he saw them. 
All Protestant commentators acknowledge that the 
souls which John saw under the altar were the souls of 
the Christians who were persecuted and slain by the 
Romish Church — a power which did not exist when 
John saw them in vision. He also saw the first and 
second resurrections passed, and gave the most graphic 



64 THE LIGHT. 

description of the scenes which took place in bringing 
about these stupendous events of Omnipotent power. 
But who will contend that John saw these things as 
they were, and not as they shall be ? 

There was not one tittle of what John saw, having 
reference to the future, that was in being when he saw 
them ; but his spiritual eyes and ears both heard and 
saw them, as clearly as though they had been really 
before his face. 

In Mark's account of this transaction, speaking of 
What Peter said respecting the tabernacles, Mark says : 
"For he wist not what to say — i. e., he knew not what to 
say — for they were sore afraid." Luke, also, in mention- 
ing it, says : " But Peter, and they that ivere with him, 
were heavy with sleep/' and, referring to the tabernacles, 
Luke adds, u not knowing what he said." 

To me it appears very evident that the three apostles, 
on the Mount of Transfiguration, were placed in just the 
same spiritual trance that the prophets Daniel, Isaiah, 
Ezekiel, and the Apostle John, on the isle called Pat- 
mos, were ; and by the supernatural aid and power of 
God, they were enabled to see things that were not as 
though they had been. If it were the object of Christ, 
by this circumstance, to show that Moses was then 
alive, there were several occasions on which he could 
have gained much more by the exhibition of him, than 
he did on the Mount of Transfiguration. For instance, 
when the Sadducees, who not only denied that there ever 
would be a resurrection, but also that there was any 
such thing as angel or spirit in the universe, came en- 
deavoring to puzzle him by the case of the woman hav- 
ing seven husbands. If Moses were then alive, as repre- 
sented on the Mount, it would have been as easy for 
Christ to produce him as to call Lazarus from his grave, 
or perform any of the miracles which he did, to convince 
his adversaries and comfort his disciples. 

Had Moses been anywhere in existence, to bring him 
before the Sadducees, as the witness of their falsehoods, 
would, in my opinion, be the soundest, most direct, and 
convincing argument that Christ could have employed 



THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST. 65 

to convince them of their errors, and entirely compati- 
ble with the general tenor of his teachings and works, 
as it would settle the whole dispute at once and forever ; 
but Christ could only call Moses from his grave, as he 
had existence nowhere else, and to do so was superflu- 
ous, while he could silence the Sadducees by direct and 
plain argument, and that he has done with the most 
perfect ease. 

<c Noio that the dead are raised, even Moses showed 
at the bush, when he called the Lord the God of Abra- 
ham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 
For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: 
for all live unto him. — Luke 20 : 37, 38. 

The meaning of Christ's argument is as forcible as it 
is plain. God would not call himself the God of these 
holy men if they were dead, in the sense which the Saddu- 
cees taught — namely, dead without hope of a resurrec- 
tion. These men were dead when God spoke to Moses 
at the bush, and they are still dead ; yet God called 
himself their God, because they live unto him. They 
live in his purpose to raise them again ; therefore, the 
dead shall arise again, for they all live unto God. 
Christ's argument, then, settles these two facts : First, 
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob are dead. Second, 
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob will be raised from the 
dead ; for God calls himself their God ; but he would 
not call himself their God had they been dead in the 
Sadducees' sense — dead absolutely, and without hope of a 
future resurrection. Therefore, the dead shall arise 
again. 

Do you suppose, that if the Saviour knew that Moses 
was living when he was thus arguing with the Sadducees, 
he would deny it to them ? No, verily ; but he knew 
well, as he told them on another occasion, that if they 
would not hear Moses and the prophets, neither would 
they be persuaded, though one did arise from the dead. 

View this subject either in the light of Scripture or 
reason, or in any light we may, except in the light of 
modern gentilism, and the evidence still is, that it was 
a vision — not a reality. 
6* 



66 THE LIGHT. 

If Moses were there in reality, as declared, then he 
was there in glory ; and if so, he was glorified before 
the Holy Scriptures declare the saints of God shall ap- 
pear in glory. " Ye are dead," said Paul, " and your 
lives are hid with Christ in God : when Christ, who is 
our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with 
him in glory. — Col. 3 : 3, 4. — Again : " Our conversa- 
tion is in heaven, from whence we look for the Saviour, 
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, 
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. — 
Phil. 3 : 20, 21. " It is sown in dishonor — it is raised 
in glory." — 1 Cor. 15 : 43. 

" When the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall re- 
ceive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."- — 1 Pet. 
5:4. 

If there could be any further doubt respecting the 
matter, the testimony of St. Peter should for ever dispel 
it ; for he shows, in the most conclusive manner, that 
the transfiguration on the Mount was a svmbolical 
representation of the glory and majesty that will sur- 
round Christ at his second coming. " For we have not 
followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known 
unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his majesty. For he 
received from God the father, honor and glory, when 
there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, 
i This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ;' 
and this voice which came from heaven, we heard when 
we were with him in the Holy Mount." — 2 Pet. 1 : 16, 
17, 18. Thus have we the authority of the inspired 
apostle, declaring the transaction to be a representation 
of " the power and corning of Christ." 

The second coming of Christ will set forth his power 
in raising the dead, and translating the living saints — 
changing their corruptible natures, and giving them a 
nature incorruptible and immortal. And this scene, 
Peter declares, will also set forth the majesty of Christ- 
such majestic and glorious display as tie and his fellow- 
apostles were eye-witnesses to. And as this was the rep- 
resentation of the real majesty and glory which Christ 



THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST. 67 

will possess when he shall come, so the glory that Moses 
and Elijah appeared in represented the state, or con- 
dition, or glory, of the subjects whom Christ shall have 
in his kingdom. 

Now then, if Christ's glory was not an actual, but a 
real representation of what it shall be when he comes, 
who will insist that the Moses and Elijah, who appeared, 
were the actual, and not the representative of the Moses 
and Elijah who shall be with him when he appears 
again? But the objector will say that the apostles 
declare they saw Moses and Elijah with Christ on the 
Mount in glory i Yery well, I admit they did. The 
miraculous vision was as real to them as if they were 
the actual and identical Moses and Elijah. Christ also 
said, that certain of the disciples should not taste of 
death till they saw the kingdom of God, and so they did 
not ; for, six days after, he showed to Peter, James, and 
John the kingdom of God. Now, I ask, did the Mount 
of Transfiguration, with Moses and Elijah, constitute the 
real kingdom of God ? Objector will reply, no. But 
Christ said it was the kingdom of God — thus by a forced 
construction of the literal words of Christ, the Mount 
of Transfiguration must be the actual kingdom of God, 
and hence the kingdom of God has already come, and the 
resurrection is already past. 

Now, if neither the Mount of Transfiguration, nor yet 
the transfiguration itself constituted the kingdom of God 
because Christ called them such, how can it be con- 
tended that Moses and Elijah were really and actually 
there, because Peter, who was in a spiritual trance or 
stupor, said that they were Moses and Elijah ; especially 
seeing, he knew not what he said ; and if the holy men 
of God, at sundry times, saw visions of a similar char- 
acter, and none of them were anything more than repre- 
sentatives of the real — why could not this be the 
same, particularly seeing Christ called it a Vision ? 

" Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of Man be 
risen again from the dead J 1 



1 



CHAPTER VI. 

CHEIST ON THE RESURRECTION. 

" Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which 
deny that there is any resurrection : and they asked him, 
saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, ' If any man's 
brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, 
that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed 
unto his brother.' There were, therefore, seven breth- 
ren, and the first took a wife and died without 
children ; and the second took her to wife, and died 
childless ; and the third took her, and in like manner 
the seven also ; and they left no children and died. 
Last of all the woman died, also. Therefore, in the 
resurrection, whose wife of them is she ? for seven had 
her to wife. 

" And Jesus answering said unto them, The children 
of this world marry and are given in marriage ; but they 
which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, 
and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor 
are given in marriage. Neither can they die any more ; 
for they are equal unto the angels, and are the children 
of God, being the children of the resurrection. 

"Now that the dead are raised — even Moses showed 
at the bush when he called the Lord, the G-od of 
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 
For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living, for 
all live unto him."— Luke 20 : 27-38. 

A correspondent of mine, quoting the last clause of 
this passage to prove that the dead have conscious 
existence, says : — 

This text appears to carry destruction into your very 



CHRIST ON THE RESURRECTION. 69 

camp. Materialism is particularly aimed at by this divine 
revelation. You say or believe that Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob are dead, I contend that their bodies are dead, 
but their souls are vjith God in happiness. God says he is 
their God, but he is not the God of the dead ; therefore 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are not dead." Then with 
imaginary triumph he adds, " Is this a logical deduction, 
or is it the dictate of man's wisdom." 

My reply is this. In my opinion, it is neither " a 
logical deduction," nor yet " the dictate of man's wisdom." 
It is an admitted, and therefore an established rule in 
logic, that if the premises are false, the conclusion must 
also be false ; although I admit things may be logically 
true which in principle are false, such things are called 
false logic, or more properly sophistry. 

But my correspondent's proposition is not a clever 
sophism even. To be such it would require the following 
construction : " God is not the God of the dead but of the 
living only — God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob. Therefore Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are still 
alive." 

Now, having shown that it is not a " logical deduc- 
tion" I will show that it is not " the dictate of man's 
wisdom." I affirm on the authority of the Holy Scrip- 
tures, that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are dead. My 
correspondent says, " I contend that their bodies are 
dead, but their souls are with God in happiness." As 
this assumption is sustained by no portion of our 
Saviour's discourse on that occasion, nor on any other, 
it is extremely unwarrantable, and "human wisdom" 
would never assume a proposition for which there is not 
a shadow of proof, therefore it is not " the dictate of 
man's wisdom" But it is the dictate of human folly. 
It is foolish, because it is false, and false because it is 
foolish. 

There is another point in which the reader cannot 
help seeing the defect of my correspondent's would-be 
logic. He contends that the u bodies only" of these 
worthy patriarchs are dead, but " their souls are living 
with God in happiness" — hence both his position and 



70 THE LIGHT. 

premises would lead to the conclusion — Therefore God 
is not the God of the dead bodies of Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, but of their living souls. Now, as none can 
raise the bodies of the dead but God, according to his 
premises, the bodies of the dead will never be raised ; 
for G-od declares that he is not their God, but only the 
God of their souls ; and as he contends that their souls 
are already in happiness with God, they — the souls — of 
course need no resurrection, and, therefore, the false con- 
clusions of his false premises inevitably lead to this — 
therefore there never shall be any resurrection of Abra- 
ham, Isaac, and Jacob — and therefore, Abraham, Isaac 
and Jacob are perished ; for inspiration doth declare 
that, " If the dead rise not, then they also who are fallen 
asleep in Christ are perished. " — 1 Cor. 15 : 18. 

The reader can see what result my correspondent's 
logic would lead to. It would destroy the very founda- 
tion of the gospel hope — the resurrection of the dead — 
and thus establish the very doctrine which Christ's argu- 
ment destroyed, viz. : The false notions of the Sadducees 
— that death is the final end of man. 

If our Saviour intended only to prove on this occa- 
sion that the dead are still alive (i. e., that they have 
consciousness), his answer could not have confounded 
the Sadducees as it did ; for to prove that man is alive, 
so far from establishing the hope of his resurrection is 
the very means of destroying it : for a man that is al- 
ready alive needs not a resurrection to life. But to 
prove his resurrection to life, establishes the fact of his 
death, exalts the power of the being who raises him 
from death, and destroys the whole scheme of doctrine 
upon which the Sadducees reared their false structure. 
Both the question of the Sadducees and Christ's reply 
had reference to the resurrection of the dead ; not to 
the absurd theory that the dead are living while dead. 
There is not one syllable in the whole narrative about 
the souls of Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, neither is there of 
the woman, or of her seven husbands' souls, but the 
question at issue is, whether the individuals, Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob, are perished, or whether God will 



CHRIST ON THE RESURRECTION. 71 

reproduce them by a resurrection from the state of 
death. 

The Sadducees were a powerful sect of the Jews. They 
derived their origin from a man of the name of Sadoc, 
who lived about three hundred years before Christ's in- 
carnation. Doubtless the extravagant and absurd no- 
tions of another sect called the Pharisees, who derived 
their name from Phares, another Jewish Rabbi, gave rise 
to the Sadducees. 

The ancient Pharisees, like the modern Romanists, 
ascribe the same divine authority to their endless un- 
written traditions that they did to the written word of 
inspiration. Nothing seemed too hard for a Pharisee 
to believe. For instance, they embraced the heathen 
notion of man's possessing a soul, a conscious, rational, 
and independent being indwelling in him, which at 
death took possession of some other animal, while said 
animal continued to live, but at its death entered an- 
other, and so on to the end of the chapter. They were 
also, the most rabid and absolute Predestinarians, and 
taught that the world with all its contents, was governed 
by an unalterably fixed destiny — rigid fatalists. 

The Sadducees, as it appears, to counteract the 
opinions of the Pharisees, ran into the opposite ex- 
treme. For, while they very properly rejected all un- 
written traditions, as doctrinal proofs, and held to the 
unity of man, yet they denied that there existed any 
such thing as angel or spirit in any part of the uni- 
verse, and taught the total and final annihilation of 
man in death, by denying the resurrection of the 
dead. 

Manifold were the errors, both of the Pharisees and 
Sadducees, especially of the former, but the mainspring 
of all their errors lay in these two, viz. : The Pharisees 
taught that man did not die at all, while the Sadducees 
taught that he died eternally. 

The Pharisees, to evade the dilemma of physical death, 
wiiich occurred daily around them, said man did not con- 
sist of body merely, but of soul and body, and that the 
body only died, while the soul escaped death and took 



72 THE LIGHT. 

np its abode with some inferior animal, or entered im- 
mediately into happiness or misery, and that at a future 
day. the body would again be raised for the soul to in- 
habit through all eternity. This was an improvement 
on the heathen doctrine respecting their imaginary soul. 
The Sadducees denied the whole of this, and insisted 
that death ended man's career, and that eternally. Now 
be it remembered that neither the doctrine of the Phari- 
sees nor Sadducees had a shadow of foundation, either 
in the law of Moses or the writings of the ancient 
Prophets. Neither has it any countenance in the New 
Testament. And our Lord strictly forbade his disci- 
ples to receive the doctrine, of either party. " Beware 
of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." — (See 
Mat. 16 : 6-12.) 



A BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN THE TEXT. 

Jesus, on a certain occasion, was teaching the people 
in the temple, and their strict attention and evident 
approbation of his words, created the jealousy of the 
chief priests, and scribes, and elders, who came and de- 
manded of him his authority for teaching the people. 
Christ asked them a question respecting John Baptist's 
authority for immersing the people, which they did not 
answer, as it would defeat the purpose of their inquiry. 
He then put forth a parable of a man who planted a 
vineyard, and let it out to husbandmen, who malicious- 
ly ill-treated and murdered not only the man's servants, 
but also his only son, and then asked what the Lord of 
that vineyard would do to these men ? They answered 
that he would miserably destroy them. He then ap- 
plied the parable, by asking them the meaning of a quo- 
tation from the 118th Psalm : " The stone which the 
builders rejected, the same is become the head-stone of 
the corner." Perfectly understanding the application, 
those hypocritical priests sought a convenient and safe 
way to arrest him ; but as they feared the uprising of 



CHRIST ON THE RESURRECTION. 73 

the people, they acted a more wily part, by sending 
men of reputed wisdom to question and ensnare him, 
that they may accuse him of treason against Casafs 
government. 

These hypocritical traitors, after complimenting 
Christ for the impartiality and justness of all his deci- 
sions, asked, if it was lawful for them, as Jews, to give 
tribute to Caesar, a Gentile? His answer so utterly 
confounded them, and showed up their hypocrisy, that 
they dared not ask him another word on that occasion. 
—(See Luke 20 : 1-26.) 

The Sadducees, having a clear knowledge of the doc- 
trine which Christ taught his disciples concerning the 
kingdom he would give to the resurrected saints, and 
the condition of the subjects of that kingdom, came also 
and tried to puzzle him with an ingenious quibble, con- 
cerning the woman having the seven brothers to hus- t 
band, and desiring to know whose wife of the seven she' 
would be when raised from death, as each would then 
have equal claim to her, and the law of Moses would 
only permit her to be the wife of one. Now, to the 
Sadducees, who regarded the law of Moses as the abso- 
lute law of God, and, therefore, of perpetual obligation, 
this question appeared unanswerable. Matthew and 
Mark's account of this circumstance shows that Jesus 
charged the Sadducees with ignorance on two import- 
ant points, viz. : (1) The meaning of the Scriptures 
in regard to the nature and government of Christ's 
kingdom. (2) Also God's power to raise the dead. 

The Sadducees understood the Jewish church to be 
the kingdom of God, and quoted the language of his 
servant, Moses, delivered as the law of God — (Deut. 25 : 
5). They wished to know, if it were possible to raise 
the dead again, how was this case to be adjusted, or 
would the laws of Christ's kingdom be contrary to the 
laws of God, which he had delivered and promulgated 
by his servant, Moses ? Jesus told them that they who 
shall be counted worthy to obtain that kingdom and 
the resurrection of the just, shall not be married, nor 
given in marriage, according to the manner of the 



74 THE LIGHT. 

Mosaic law ; neither can the circumstance which caused 
this woman to be the wife of seven (namely, their death) 
occur in that kingdom, as " they cannot die any more ;" 
and as to the mode of their government, it shall be 
equal — i. e., similar — to the angels of God, because they 
are the children of God, being the children of the (first) 
resurrection ; hence, as God's children, they will be un- 
der his immediate and personal government. 

Now, seeing the Sadducees regarded Moses, in au- 
thority, above Christ, whom they looked upon as an 
impostor, Jesus demolished their sophistry by quoting 
the language of Moses in proof of the resurrection of 
the dead. u Now that the dead are raised (said Christ), 
even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the 
Lord, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and 
the God of Jacob." Had these holy men been dead in 
the sense which you, Sadducees, teach — dead without 
hope of a resurrection — God would not call himself 
their God ; " for he is not the God of the dead (eternal- 
ly so), but of the living, for all live unto him." All 
live to God, in his purpose to raise them from death ; 
this he has promised, and is abundantly able to fulfill ; 
therefore, they live unto him. Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob were dead when God spoke to Moses at the 
bush, and called himself their God — a thing which he 
would not do, said Christ, if he did not intend to raise 
them from death. 

So convincing was Christ's argument to the Saddu- 
cees, that " certain of the scribes answering, said : 
Master, thou hast well said. And after that they durst 
not ask him any question at ally 

The two clauses (first of 37, and last of 38 verses) — 
" The dead are raised" and "All live unto God" — stand 
alike in the present tense, while both have reference to 
the future ; or, in other words, what is to take place in 
the future is spoken of as though it had already taken 
place (a thing which is common in Scriptural phrase- 
ology) , and the meaning of the first should determine 
the meaning of the second. If it will be insisted, be- 
cause it is said " all live unto God" that, therefore, all 



CHRIST ON THE RESURRECTION. 75 

the dead are now living, and with God, then I will, for 
the same cause, and with the same propriety, insist, that 
the resurrection of all has already taken place ; for it is 
also as positively said, " the dead are raised." 

The purposes of God are so certain that he speaks of 
what to us appears in the future as though it were 
already done ; with God, indeed, it is done, as none of 
his attributes are governed by time, and no circum- 
stance can limit his power. Hence, what he says he 
will do, is with him already done, on his part ; but as we 
are creatures of time and circumstances, both time and 
circumstance are necessary to fulfill it in reference to us. 

God said to Abraham, " I have made thee a father to 
many nations.'' 1 And this was said before Abraham 
had a son, or these nations were born — (Compare Gen. 
11 : 5 with Rom. 4 : 17). It would be easy to multiply, 
were it necessary, instances where the Bible speaks of 
what is to take place, as though it had already taken 
place. And, if the reader will look at the account given 
of this matter — (Matt. 22:8; and Mark 12) — he will see 
that the resurrection is spoken of as to take place in the 
future, and, certainly, he cannot help seeing, from the 
concurrent testimony of the three Evangelists, that it 
was " touching the resurrection of the dead," that God 
spake to Moses at the bush — (Exod. 3:6). At any 
rate, so said Jesus of Nazareth, and so understood 
the stubborn Sadducees his words to mean; and so 
thoroughly were they convinced of their own defeat, 
that " they durst not ask him any question at all." 

But, if the meaning of the phrase, u For all live unto 
him" were understood in the sense that gentilism 
teacheth, it would prove too much for their interest. For 
one of the principal features in their theology is a 
belief that the wicked are punished with " eternal con- 
scions torments." But if, as they insist, this clause be a 
proof that the dead are alive, then, upon the authority 
of the meaning they want to fasten upon it, I am 
bound to believe, that the wicked are, in the language 
of my correspondent, " with God in happiness " — be- 
cause, although Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's names 



76 THE LIGHT. 

only are mentioned, yet, I suppose none will have the 
hardihood to insist, that they only " are alive, and with 
God in happiness ;" for, if this statement refers exclu- 
sively to them, then it cuts off all others ; and if it 
refers to any beyond them, it certainly refers to all the 
dead — therefore, none of the dead but they — or all the 
dead — " live unto God," and are " alive with him in 
happiness." But these words were spoken by Christ to 
prove that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would have a 
resurrection ; and if they shall have a resurrection, 
therefore, all the dead shall be raised — " They that have 
done good to the resurrection of life ; and they that have 
done evil to the resurrection of condemnation." 

The circumstance that gave rise to the mention of 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jocob's names was Moses' ques- 
tion to the Lord at the bush — (See Exod. 3:13). 
a Behold when I come unto the children of Israel, and 
shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me 
unto you, and they shall say to me, What is his name ? 
What shall I say unto them ? And God said unto Moses, 
I AM THAT I AM, (or as the Hebrew text more pro- 
perly has it, I AM WHAT I SHALL BE). And 
he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, 
I AM hath sent me unto you." But as the children of 
Israel may not know God by a definition which they 
had not before heard, " he said, moreover, unto Moses, 
Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The 
Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the 
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob hath sent me." 
That is the God that made promises to Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, hath sent me to renew the promises made to 
them unto you. Such definition was, doubtless, as 
satisfactory as it must be encouraging to the children 
of Israel ; for they, as the children of Abraham, looked 
for the fulfillment of the promises God made to him. 

Now, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were many years 
dead before this message was sent by Moses ; and 
it is worthy of remark that neither in the account at 
the bush, nor yet in Christ's quotation of it, is there 
the least intimation that these holy patriarchs were 



CHRIST ON THE RESURRECTION. 77 

living when their names were mentioned. But they 
lived to I AM — he remembered them and the promises 
that he made them. And Christ, quoting this passage, 
is a sufficient proof that God will raise them from death 
and fulfill his promises ; as, otherwise, all his promises 
to them would have an end and perish ; for Abraham 
"died " in faith (of the promises), not having received 
the promises. — See Heb. 11 : 13, 39. 
7* 



CHAPTER VII. 

MAN'S EARTHLY HOUSE. 

"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle 
were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens." — 2 Cor. 5 : 1. 

Br. Adam Clarke, commenting on this text, says : 
" By the earthly house the apostle most evidently means 
the body, in which the soul is represented as dwelling or 
sojourning for a time, and from which it is to be liber- 
ated at death. The apostle, by this figure, alludes to 
the Jewish tabernacle, which, at every move of the con- 
gregation, was dissolved, taken to pieces, and wten they 
rested, put up again." The doctor thinks that if " the 
simile is taken in connection with the doctrine of the 
resurrection, which the apostle has treated so much at 
large in these epistles, and which he keeps constantly in 
view, then we shall see that he intends to convey the 
following meaning : That as the tabernacle was taken 
down, in order to be again put together, so the body is 
dissolved, in order to be re-edified : that as the ark of the 
covenant subsisted by itself, while the tabernacle was 
down, so can the soul when separate from the body." 

I have only room to say this is a very plausible and 
sophistical argument ; but it does not explain the text. 

Dr. Albert Barnes, of Philadelphia, in commenting 
on the text, says : " Paul refers to the body as the frail 
and temporary abode of the soul, liable to be taken down 
at any moment, and not designed, any more than a tent 
is j to be a permanent habitation." Therefore, we may 
understand Barnes as doing away with the very idea of 
any future resurrection. Clarke seems to have more 
affection for the old tent than Barnes ; for he is for hav- 



man's earthly house. 79 

ing it " re-edified ;" but Barnes is more consistent, by 
giving the old shell a final shake off and a long farewell. 
Passing over a thousand things which, had I time 
and means to publish, I would deem important to notice, 
I will proceed to set forth some difficulties which pre- 
sent themselves to my mind, in connection with the 
common acceptation and interpretation of the text un- 
der consideration. 

(1) If the righteous have a soul that leaves them at death, 
and if that soul receives a body which it occupies eter- 
nally in the heavens, so are the souls of the wicked to 
receive a body, also, which they are to occupy eternally 
in the heavens ; for the Bible tells us that, in reference 
to death, " from all that passeth before us, none can tell 
who is the object of God's hatred or love — u For all 
things come alike to all : there is one event to the righteous 
and to the wicked, to the good and to the bad, to the clean 
and to the unclean ; to him that sacrificeth, and to him 
that sacrificeth not ; as is the good, so is the sinner ; 
and he that swear eth, as he that swear eth not, 11 — 
Eccl. 9 : 2. 

Thus, we see, that if, at death, the righteous are 
clothed with a body from heaven, so are also the wick- 
ed ; and if the body of the righteous is to remain eter- 
nally in the heavens, so the body of the wicked is also to 
remain eternally in the heavens, and thus all distinction 
is destroyed between the righteous and the wicked ; and, 
therefore, the threatenings of those men who want to 
" scare converts to heaven" that they may escape the 
torments of hell, fall harmless on the head of the wicked. 

(2) If the common belief in this text be true, then it 
utterly overthrows the hope of a resurrection, which ap- 
pears to have been the burden of apostolical preaching, 
and which, Adam Clarke says, Paul " held constantly 
in view." 

If the man's body be the earthly tabernacle mentioned 
in the text, in opposition to " the building of God," 
which is declared, by the doctors, to be the heavenly 
body, received immediately at death, then the building 
of God must, of necessity, be the resurrection body, 



80 THE LIGHT. 

which cannot be true unless the resurrection of each 
one takes place immediately at his death ; but Paul 
says, the words of those who teach such doctrine will 
" eat as doth a canker ; of whom were Hymenseus and 
Philetus, who, concerning the faith (of the gospel), have 
erred, saying, that the resurrection is already past, and 
overthrow the faith of some."— 2 Tim. 2 : 17, 18. 

Neither is it true, if the common interpretation be 
accepted, that the resurrection body comes from the 
grave. Gentilism, would have it stowed away in hea- 
ven, waiting till death strips off the old carcass, when it 
is put on for good. 

(3) If the building of God, which we are to receive 
when the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, 
be the resurrection body, then what is said in verse the 
second is not true — namely, that it comes from heaven — 
" For we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon 
'with our house, which is from heaven" This same 
Paul, in another place, tells, that the glorified bodies of 
the righteous dead are not to come from heaven, but 
from the grave — " It is sown in corruption, it is raised 
in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in 
glory. — 1 Cor. 15 : 42. 

There are many other reasons which might be adduced 
to show, that the common interpretation of this text not 
only falls short of giving any reasonable solution of the 
subject it treats of, but, on the contrary, introduces 
confusion and contradiction throughout the whole Bible, 
and, by making the apostles contradict themselves, 
tends to utterly overthrow the credibility of their testi- 
mony, in reference to anything which they have asserted. 



A REASONABLE EXPLANATION OF THE MEANING OF THE 

TEXT. 

[The words in italics are the words of the Testament in 

exact order. 1 

2 Cor. 4 : 13. Paul says, that the fact of his ex- 
posing himself to imminent perils in preaching the 



man's earthly house. 81 

gospel, need surprise none, because We have the same 
spirit of faith which inspired David, according as it 
is written. — (Ps. 116 : 10.) — I believed God's prom- 
ises concerning the resurrection of the dead, and there- 
fore have I spoken: so we believe (said Paul), and 
therefore speak. 

(14) Knowing that he who raised up the Lord 
Jesus from death, shall raise up us, also, by Jesus, 
at the last day, and shall present us, alive, with you, 
before the assembled universe of angels. 

(15) For all things which we suffer in the discharge 
of our ministry, are suffered for your sakes who be- 
lieve the gospel, that the abundant grace of the gos- 
pel, which has been bestowed on you, through our min- 
istry, might, through the thanksgiving of you and the 
many to whom we have ministered, redound to the 
glory of God. 

(16) For which cause we faint not ; we do not flag 
in the discharge of our ministry, but, on the contrary, 
though our outward man perish, our bodily appear- 
ance is fast wasting away, the inward man is renewed 
day by day ; our mind is daily invigorated ; we grow 
in faith and fortitude by the suffering we endure. 

(17) For our light affliction, which is, comparatively, 
but for a moment, might well be borne by us, as it 
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory — i. e., an exceeding and eternal weight 
of glory. 

(18) While we look not at the things which are 
seen — the riches and glory of the present world — but at 
the things which are not seen ; in this respect we act 
wisely, though some think otherwise ; for the things 
which are seen are of temporal duration ; but the 
things of the heavenly world, which are not seen, are 
of eternal duration. 

2 Cor. 5 : 1. For we know that if our present earth- 
ly house of this tabernacle — the present earth on 
which we sojourn, represented by the Jewish tabernacle 
— were dissolved, we have a building, or habitation of 
God, not made or constructed with the hands of man, 



82 THE LIGHT. 

as Moses' tabernacle was, but one that shall exist eter- 
nally in the heavens, the most brilliant planet in the 
universe. 

(2) But although we are sure of this heavenly abode, 
which Christ has promised and gone to prepare for us, 
yet great are our longings for it ; For in this earthly 
house we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon 
with our house ) which is from heaven — desiring to be 
permanently introduced into our heavenly abode. 

(3) If so be that being clothed we shall not be found 
naked — i. e., not that we are disquieted under present 
trials, or desirous of the destruction of this earth, but 
knowing that it shall be destroyed, and being sure 
that at that time we shall not be found destitute of a 
place of abode, as the Jews were when the tabernacle, 
the emblem of this earth, was destroyed ; therefore, we 
desire earnestly to enter our heavenly and eternal dwell- 
ing-place. 

(4) For we that are in this tabernacle do groan being 
burthened: not because we are anxious to die, as unwill- 
ing to bear our afflictions any longer — nor do we groan 
for fear that we would be unclothed, but rather to be 
clothed upon, or that mortality might be swallowed up of 
life. 

(5) Now he that hath wrought in us the desire for this 
self same thing is God. ivho has given unto us the 
earnest of it in the miraculous gifts of the Holy 
Spirit. 

(6) Therefore, we are confident, having such assur- 
ance of our heavenly inheritance, which we so much 
desire, knowing that ivhilst we are at home in the body, 
the church, we are absent from the Lord. Absent from 
the place which the Lord has promised to give us for 
an inheritance. 

(7) For both individually and as a church body we 
ivalk and act by faith, or belief of the world to come, 
and not by the sight of the present w r orld. 

(8) We are confident I say [see v. 6] and boldly dis- 
charge our duty in the face of death, willing rather, if 
so the will of God, with all the afflictions we endure for 



man's earthly house. 83 

the body of Christ, the church, to be absent from the 
body — being cut off by death, than abandon our testi- 
mony for Christ — all which we suffer, so great is our 
desire to be present with the Lord. 

(9) Wherefore we labor that whether present or absent 
we may be accepted of him. We so discharge our duty 
that both our life and our death may be acceptable to 
the Lord, and that in the judgment we may be found of 
him in peace. 

(10) For we must all appear before the judgment 
seat of Christ : that every one of us may receive of 
him in body according to the things done. 

Thus have we placed before the reader what appears 
to us to be the apostle's meaning, but if he or any one 
can show us a better meaning, we are ready to abandon 
ours at once ; not that we are in the least dissatisfied, 
we are seeking to reveal the truth of God's words both 
for our own comfort and the edification of any, who pre- 
fer the meaning of God's word to their own preconceived 
and fondly-cherished notions ; but as we know we are 
liable to err, we would not be positive nor tenaciously 
cling to what any one would show us to be an 
error. 

We will add to this the explanation which the Apos- 
tle Paul has given of the Jewish tabernacle, with 'its 
worship and signification, showing that both the in- 
ward and outward tabernacles were emblamatical rep- 
resentations of the visible earth, and the invisible 
heavens, as we conceive it will further illustrate the 
meaning we have given of this passage, and the subject 
of which it treats. 



Paul's epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 9. 

[The words in italics are the words of the text in the exact 

order as they read.] 

(1) Then verily although the first covenant is to be 
laid aside, I acknowledge that it had also both ordi- 
nances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary ap- 



84 THE LIGHT. 

pointed by God. But the former being merely an em- 
blem of the service of Christ in heaven, and the latter 
a type of the world or universe ; the covenant of which 
they were the ordinances is now become useless, seeing 
Christ hath performed the services they refer to in 
heaven. 

(2) For there was an outward tabernacle made, which 
was called the first, and so famished as to represent the 
earth and the visible heavens, wherein was the golden 
candlestick towards the south, and the table with the 
shew-bread towards the north, which is called the sanc- 
tuary (i. e., holy place). — Exod 26 : 35. . 

(3) And after or behind the second veil, was the taber- 
nacle which is called the holiest of all. That is, the Most 
Holy Place. This was in like manner built and furnish- 
ed according to a pattern formed by God, so as to rep- 
resent the invisible habitation in the heavens, where 
the manifestation of the divine glory perpetually 
abideth. 

(4) Which had the golden censer, on which the 
High Priest burned incense when he entered the Most 
Holy Place, and the ark of the covenant^ which was 
covered both in and outside with gold, wherein was 
the golden "pot that had manna^ a memorial of the 
Israelites' being miraculously fed in the wilderness dur- 
ing forty years. And Aaron) s rod that budded, or blos- 
somed and bore almonds. And the tables of the cove- 
nant : from which the ark had its name. 

(5) And over the ark the cherubim of glory over- 
shadowing the mercy seat, and forming a magnificent 
throne for the manifestation of the divine glory that 
rested between them [Exod 25 : 22], concerning the 
meaning of which things we cannot now speak parti- 
cularly. Our design being to explain what was signi- 
fied by the tabernacle and its services. 

(6) Now when these things were thus ordained r 
that is, when the tabernacle with all its utensils were 
appointed and arranged, the ordinary Priests went al- 
ways (daily) into the first taberftacle accomplishing 
(performing) the services of God : of which the chief 



man's earthly house. 85 

was sprinkling the blood of the sin-offerings before the 
veil which concealed the symbol of the divine presence 
from their view : 

(7) But into the second [or inner tabernacle] went 
Only the High Priest alone and that only once every 
year, not, however, without the blood of the different 
sacrifices which he offered for himself and for the peo- 
ple's sins of ignorance : 

(8) The Holy Spirit, in this instance, signifying 
that the way into the holiest of all, that is, into hea- 
ven, was not yet made manifest, while as the first 
tabernacle was yet standing, or, in plainer words, the 
Holy Spirit, by whose direction the tabernacle with all 
its utensils were formed, by the absolute exclusion of 
the people and common priests from the inward taber- 
nacle, representing heaven, showed that the holy place, 
represented by the inward tabernacle, is not accessible 
to men, while this world [see v. 2] , represented by the 
outward tabernacle, still subsists. 

The doctrine taught in this chapter to the end, seems 
to be that, as the High Priest only could enter into the 
presence of that which was the Symbol of the Divine 
Glory during the days of the Jewish tabernacle, so, 
now, none but Christ our High Priest can enter into 
the place represented by the inward tabernacle — hence, 
said Paul, " who dwells in the light, which no man can 
approach, into which no man hath seen nor can see." 
And, again, " I am now ready to be offered, and the 
time of my departure is at hand ; I have fought the 
good fight ; I have finished my course ; I have kept the 
faith ; henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of 
righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall 
give me at that day — (referring to the judgment day) — ' 
and not to me only, but to all them also that love his 
appearing." 2 Tim. 4 : 6-8. 

Is it not evident from these passages that Paul did 
not look for any reward in death, but only at the resur- 
rection of the just. But if the doctrine of Gentilism 
could be true, Paul looked for his eternal reward in death. 
" The house not made with hands eternal in the heavens." 
8 



86 THE LIGHT. 

Paul says no man can see Christ in death, but 
Gentilism says all men see him in death, some entering 
on their eternal rewards, and others entering on " their 
eternal torments,'" and all this before any are judged. 

If the construction which Gentilism puts on Paul's 
teaching could possibly be true, there would be no 
harmony between what he taught the Hebrews and the 
Corinthian church, and many other churches, as could 
easily be shown had we room ; but Paul was no sycophant, 
he was a man of God who flattered no man, but spoke the 
truth on all occasions, without fear of frowns, or regard 
of favors ; for this he was constantly maligned and per- 
secuted everywhere, but he was not to be moved or 
intimidated by the scoffs and sneers and buffetings of 
men ; for he knew full well that this earth was not his 
abiding place. Like Abraham of old, he " looked for a 
city having foundations whose maker and builder is 
God," even the new creation of God ; he knew this earth 
was soon to be dissolved, and all its riches and glories 
would pass away and perish as the flower of the grass, 
yet, he firmly believed that, before that awful event 
should have taken place, " The Lord Jesus himself 
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice 
of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the 
dead in Christ shall rise first and be caught up to 
remain forever with the Lord," therefore, he did not 
flag in the discharge of his ministry, because, he knew he 
would not, like the Jews, who, when their tabernacle 
was destroyed, had no resting place, be homeless — he 
would have a house of God, a home in heaven, a house 
not made with the hands of men, as Moses' tabernacle 
was. but he would have a mansion in glory — even that 
which Christ had gone to prepare for all that love his 
appearing and kingdom — the new Jerusalem, not the 
old, as many foolishly imagine, but the Jerusalem which 
is to come down from God out of heaven, the city of 
the living God, where the ransomed of the Lord shall 
eternally abide. 

If there should any doubt remain on the reader's 
mind, as to the correctness of the foregoing explanation 



man's earthly house. 87 

of this text, I think the following quotation should wipe 
it out clean : 

a And I saw a new heaven and a new earth ; for the 
first heaven and the first earth were passed away ; and 
there was no more sea, and I John saw the holy city, 
new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, 

Erepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I* 
eard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the 
tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with 
them, and they shall be his people, and God himself 
shall be with them,- and be their God. And God shall 
wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and there shall be 
no more death (among them), neither sorrow, nor cry- 
ing, neither shall there be any more pain ; for the former 
things are passed away." — (Rev. 21 : 1, 2, 3, 4.) 

This heavenly planet, called by the Apostle John, " t/ie 
tabernacle of God" because it comes down out of 
heaven, is what the Apostle Paul means by " the build- 
ing of God" in opposition to i: the earthly house of 
this tabernacle" But, as I think, enough has been 
said, to remove every obstacle in the way of a reason- 
able solution of the text, I will for the present let the 
subject stand, and let the reader draw his own 
inferences. 
1* 



. 



»' 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PETER AND HIS TABERNACLE. 

" Yea ? I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle to 
stir you up, by putting you in remembrance ; knoiving that 
shortly I must put off [this) my tabernacle, even as our Lord 
Jesus Christ hath showed me." — (2 Pet. 1 : 13.) 

A correspondent of mine, after quoting this passage, 
to prove that man has conscious existence in death, 
indulges in the following singular remarks : 

" Here is a doctrine taught which is the very anti- 
podes of materialism. The body was soon to be put 
off. It is only the vehicle in which the soul acts. It 
is the house or home of the spirit. The persecutors 
of Christianity were soon to put their power into 
operation to its extreme limits, and destroy the 
tabernacle. But Peter, the now intrepid Peter, was 
prepared for their machinations. They might have 
the body, he was ready to put it off, that his im- 
mortal spirit might soar to its native home in the 
shies, far beyond the clouds and beyond the tomb." 

It is evident, that this man's poetical imagination 
has beclouded the reasonableness and consistency with 
which he, and all others, should examine into and speak 
of divine things. Peters body, he tells us, was 
but the vehicle in which Peters soul acted, " the house 
or home of \m spirit." The persecutors of Christianity 
were about to destroy Peter's tabernacle, i. e., Peter's 
body, but Peter was prepared for them. They might 
have the body, as Peter was about to put it off, " that 
his (Peter's) immortal spirit might soar to its home in 
the skies." 



PETER AND HIS TABERNACLE. 89 

There is a combination of ideas expressed in the 
words of my correspondent, the meaning of which, if 
they have any, requires a man of patent orthodoxy to 
penetrate and fathom. If I understand anything of 
their meaning, it is this, that the man Peter possessed a 
peculiar property consisting of body, soul, and spirit, 
the body being the hack or carriage which the soul 
drove round and made the instrument of all his acts. 
The body, at length having become worn out through 
fatigue or old age, is deserted by the soul and left to 
die and rot. The spirit, who must have been impri- 
soned in the body till its death, is now at liberty to go 
to its " native home in the skies, far beyond the clouds 
and beyond the tomb." But as to the fate of Peter's 
soul, our correspondent does not inform us, nor yet of 
ihe man Peter himself, who, it seems, is now left des- 
titute of either body, soul, or spirit. 

If the language of our correspondent means anything, 
it implies that there was in the composition of the man, 
Peter, the following firm, namely : — 1. The man Peter ; 
2. Peter's body; 3. Peter's soul; 4. Peter's spirit; 
total, four distinct or separate identities. But our cor- 
respondent's biography of the firm of Peter and Co. is 
imperfect, as he has left us in the dark in reference to 
the destiny of two of the party, viz. : The man Peter, 
and the man Peter's soul. Peter's body, he tell us, is 
given to the persecutors of Christianity — Peter's spirit 
has soared off to its native home in the skies, -but 
what has become of Peter's soul and Peter himself? 

If any one can perceive, from Peter's language, the 
conclusions to which our worthy and learned corre- 
spondent arrives, I confess that that man's perceptive 
faculties are clearer than mine, as I can see no reason- 
able agreement between the words of Peter and those of 
my correspondent, nor do I see any rational meaning 
whatever that can be derived from the latter. The idea 
of disconnecting Peter from Peter's body, and con- 
founding the man, Peter, with the man, Peter's soul, and 
the man, Jeter's spirit, and then leaving us to infer that 
the mau Peter is dead, while his soul and spirit are 
8* 



90 THE LIGHT. 

living, must, in my opinion, be ranked with those things 
which, Peter said, were " hard to be understood" 

Having set forth the heterodoxy of my correspond- 
ent's notions, I will endeavor to show the meaning and 
orthodoxy of Peter's statement, by presenting a general 
outline both of the doctrines he taught, and the causes 
which led him to write his second epistle, confining 
myself to the explanation of the first chapter only. 

It appears that, in the latter part of the apostolical 
age, many false teachers arose, among whom were the 
ISTicolaitans ; a party of heretics that sprung from 
Nicholas of Antioch, a Gentile by birth, and a convert 
to Judaism, who embraced Christianity, but to corrupt 
its doctrines and precepts. He was chosen one of the 
deacons of the church at Jerusalem — was early con- 
demned by the Spirit of God. — (See Acts 2:6.) 

The opinions of the Nicolaitans were highly extra- 
vagant and corrupt. They perverted the doctrine of 
the Gospel, concerning man's being justified by free 
grace through faith in Christ, without works of love or 
virtue ; and to make a pretense for gratifying the lusts 
of their flesh without hinderance or let, and to gain the 
greater credit for their explanations of the Gospel, 
they denied the authority of the apostles, and arrogated to 
themselves certain spiritual illuminations of far higher 
order than the apostles'; nay, they went even further, and 
denied the divine authority of Christ himself, and set them- 
selves up above him in authority. They were, in short, a 
modification of the present day spiritualists. They held to 
a community of wives and denied the resurrection of the 
dead. They assured their disciples that, being justi- 
fied by faith without works, believers were under no 
obligation to abstain from sin, or do what is morally 
good ; for Christ having purchased for them pardon, 
and being justified by his grace and righteousness, they 
were, therefore, at perfect liberty to gratify all their 
passions and appetites. 

These doctrines, being agreeable to the vulgar and 
impure of heart, were embraced by very many during 
the latter part of the first age, and it was to stop the 



PETER AND HIS TABERNACLE. 91 

mouths of such false teachers of all ages, and prevent 
the faithful from being seduced into their corruptions, 
that the Apostle Peter wrote his second epistle, in 
which he brought certain glorious evidences of the 
nature and rewards of the Gospel to their remembrance, 
and had them recorded, that after his death they might 
remain as the standard authority for Christian appeal. 

1. In opposition to the calumnies of the false teachers, 
he addressed the desciples to whom this was sent, that 
Christ had gifted his apostles with every necessary gift 
and qualification for leading mankind to a godly life, 
that they might be made partakers of the divine nature. 
He had bestowed on them inspiration to know the 
doctrines of the Gospel, and authority to proclaim them 
to the world ; from which it followed that those who 
professed greater authority and illumination, were im- 
postors. — (Verses 3, 4.) 

And, because the false teachers taught their disciples 
that morality was of no account in obtaining salvation, 
Peter exhorted all who professed the gospel to join 
to their faith courage to maintain it under persecu- 
tion ; and to courage increasing knowledge of the 
Gospel doctrine — (6); and to knowledge, the government 
of their passions, and to that government patience 
under afflictions, and to patience, godliness, or piety, 
and to piety, the love of their Christian brethren ; and 
to the love of the brethren — love to all mankind ; not 
excepting their enemies and persecutors — assuring them 
that the possession of these excellent qualities would 
make them fruitful in every good work — (7) ; but if 
deficient of these things, notwithstanding their preten- 
sions to superior illuminations, they were blind. — (9) 

Moreover, he assured them that it was by the practice 
of good works only, that they could make their calling 
and election as the church of God sure, and have 
an entrance into the everlasting kingdom of oar Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ. — (11) 

To these things, he said, he would not cease to call 
their attention while he lived, although they already 
knew and believed them — (12) ; especially seeing he 



92 THE LIGHT. 

was old, and being warned of Christ — (see John 21 : 
18, 19) — that he should soon die, he purposed, by com- 
mitting his instructions to writing, to put it in their 
power after his death to have them both for reference 
and remembrance. — (14, 15) 

Meantime, to give the disciples assurance of the 
truth of what he was about to write, namely, that Jesus 
is the Son of G-od, as also of the grandeur and glory 
of Christ's kingdom, and the glory they should partake 
of as subjects of that eternal kingdom, which things, 
all infidels and unbelievers should not only be deprived 
of, but also be destroyed, he tells them that, in making 
these known to them, neither he nor any of his associate 
apostles had published a fable, cunningly devised by 
Christ, and credulously believed by them ; for they had 
the clearest evidence of what their master's power shall 
be at his second coming, and the nature of his kingdom, 
and the character of his subjects when raised from the 
dead, by the appearance of Moses, who was many 
years dead and buried, and of Elijah, who was many 
years before translated : both of whom, on that occa- 
sion, appeared with Christ in glory as types of what the 
resurrected saints shall be — Moses representing the 
saints that are dead and to be raised when Christ shall 
appear, and Elijah representing the- saints who shall 
be living, changed and translated as he was to heaven, 
at the same time that they who die in faith shall be. 

And of Christ's being the Son of God, the apostles 
could have no doubt, as they distinctly heard the voice 
of the Father, saying, " This is my beloved son, in whom 
I am well pleased." This voice Peter, James, and 
John — (a sufficient number of credible witnesses) — 
heard with their own ears coming from the most ex- 
cellent glory.— (16, 18) 

The apostle closes these references (by adding to 
such proofs of our master's greatness to which he was 
witness), that they and all mankind have the ancient 
prophecies concerning the resurrection of the dead and 
future glory of Christ's kingdom, as, also, the prophecies 
of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, confirming what the 



PETER AND HIS TABERNACLE. 93 

ancient prophets said concerning these grand events * * 
wherefore, it behoved them to give heed to the prophetic 
word thus confirmed, as to a lamp shining in a dark 
place, until the day of their redemption dawned, and 
Christ, the morning star of that day, should arise 
gladdening their hearts with the brilliancy and glorious 
majesty of his appearance, as their Creator, Redeemer, 
and eternal companion. Knowing this first, as a cir- 
cumstance necessary to confirm their faith in the ancient 
prophets, that no prophecy of Holy Scripture is of 
human invention, but that holy men of God (i. e., holy 
and godly men) spoke as they were directed by the 
Holy Spirit of God. 

Thus have I given, in substance, what appears to me 
the rational meaning of this chapter. The reader is at 
liberty to dissent, if he will present a better explanation. 
Now, from the natural construction and most obvious 
literal meaning of this portion of divine truth, no sane 
man can conclude that the Apostle Peter consisted of 
two or more Peters — but the language of our corre- 
spondent, and he speaks the voice and meaning of the 
present day " orthodoxy," (!) would lead us to con- 
clude, that a Peter-soul dwelt within a Peter-body, 
and that a Peter-spirit was within the Peter-soul, 
and that the three — Peter's body, soul, and spirit — were 
the property of the Peter-human, that is, the real 
Peter. 

Such stuff may feed the subtleties of refined heathen- 
ism, but never can it satisfy the demands of intellectual 
reason ; such contradictions may overawe the spiritual 
bumps of superstitious fanaticism, but never can it 
command the admiration of a reasonable mind. It will 
answer to subvert the liberty of conscience, and subju- 
gate the masses to the avarice of an ambitious and 
wily priesthood, arrogating to themselves a spiritual 
lordship over the church of Jesus Christ, but never can 
it elevate man to that position in which the Gospel is 
designed to place him — the monarch of his own spi- 
ritual thoughts and the glory of this earth. 

There is not a verse, from beginning to end of the 



94 THE LIGHT. 

Holy Scriptures, where the word tabernacle is used in 
allusion to the human body. The phrase signifies a 
movable or changeable dwelling-place. The Mosaic 
tabernacle, made by divine direction for the visible 
manifestation of the sheJcinah, was, as Paul tells us, a sym- 
bolical representation of this earth, as also of the visible 
and invisible heavens. The outward court represented 
this earth and the visible heavens. The most holy 
place, or inward tabernacle, represented the invisible 
heavens where Christ has entered. 

[See the explanation given of the tabernacle, page 83.] 

A man's tabernacle is the place wherein he sojourns, 
or that which contains him. Our present tabernacle, or 
dwelling-place, is the present earth ; but it is not the 
Christian's home, because it will be destroyed and shall 
pass away, and no place, will be found for it among the 
heavenly planets ; and Peter, in the third chapter of this 
epistle, has shown its destruction in the most clear and 
graphic language. It will be destroyed with the wicked, 
because it is under the same curse that they are. — 
(See Gen. 3 : 17.) 

The apostles, in writing, used metaphorical and sym- 
bolical expressions, not for the purpose of giving false 
teachers a something that they could twist and torture 
the sense of, to establish lies, but, because they expressed 
grand and comprehensive views of the facts they 
designed to convey, and also saved much time and 
labor both in speaking and writing ; and if we will 
notice the speeches of any of our public speakers, we 
will readily perceive that they invariably use the same 
method of illustration. 

To understand the use and necessity, not to say 
beauty, of these sublime figures we find in the Bible, it 
is necessary we take into consideration certain circum- 
stances by which the parties using them were governed. 
First, it was the common mode of communicating know- 
ledge in the age and country they lived in ; and, secondly, 
they could not, from the grandeur of the ideas conceived 
by the mind, avoid the use of metaphorical and alle- 
gorical phrases. 



PETER AND HIS TABERNACLE. 95 

Language consists of two principal parts, namely, 
ideas and sounds. The ideas are twofold, sensual and 
intellectual, and as the intellect depends for its informa- 
tion on the senses, it is natural and right to suppose 
that the sensible impressions gathered from the senses 
will always have a prominence in the human mind. 
Words are arbitrary sounds or names that are given to 
express the ideas conveyed by the senses to the intellect. 
Now, while there may be a vast difference between the 
sensible and intellectual idea, there can be no material 
difference in the name itself. 

The power of language was communicated to man 
intuitively at his creation, for it is a natural attribute ; 
yet, man's ideas and language depend entirely on his 
senses, for there is no idea intuitively in the mind or in- 
dependently of the senses ; hence, the sensible ideas 
must first present themselves to all men ; and, as an 
intellectual idea can only be expressed by sensible signs 
or words, such words are called metaphors, from a 
Greek word which means transfer. Now, the apostle 
Peter was treating of the kingdom of heaven, which was 
not immediately an object of sense, and as the Jewish 
tabernacle represented, in type, that kingdom when 
Peter was contrasting the present earth, on which he 
resided, with that heavenly and eternal kingdom of God, 
which he hoped to finally obtain, by the use of the 
metaphor he transferred the earth to the Jewish taber- 
nacle, and thus, by one grand idea, he taught what 
would require volumes to explain without the metaphor. 
The more ancient the language, the fewer its words, and 
consequently, the bolder must be its metaphors. Ac- 
cordingly, we find all primitive languages highly figura- 
tive, and the more favorable are any people for enjoy- 
ing sensual gratification, the more abundant will they 
multiply these expressions. The languages of those 
who live in warm climates, generally abound more in 
figurative expressions than those nations who live in 
cold regions and whose imaginations are more languid, 
because their situation does not permit them to enjoy, 
to the same extent, sensual gratifications. 



95 THE LIGHT. 

This is the reason why the language and expressions 
of the Hebrews are filled with a variety of extravagant 
metaphorical expressions, and, consequently, so distin- 
guished from the temperate speech of the western parts 
of the world. Of the bold metaphors used in the Holy 
Scriptures, I will select a few for example, and in corrob- 
oration of these remarks — 

Gen. 4 : 10. " The voice of thy brother's blood crieth 
to me from the ground." 

Gen. 19 : 26. " His wife looked back from behind 
him, and she became a pillar of salt." 

Gen. 49 : 11. " He washed his clothes in the blood of 
grapes." 

Psalm 5:9. " Their throat is an open sepulchre." 

Psalm 40 : 3. " Thou hast made us drink the wine 
of astonishment." 

Psalm 68 : 28. " Man did eat angels' food." 

Psalm 129 : 3. " The ploughers ploughed upon my 
back, they made deep their furrows." 

Isaiah 34 : 3. " The mountains shall be melted with 
their blood." 

Isaiah 14 : 23. "I will sweep it with the besom of 
destruction." 

Exod. 15:3. " The Lord is a man of war. (6) Thy 
right hand has dashed in pieces the enemy." 

Psalm 18 : 8. " There went up a smoke out of his 
nostrils, and the fire of his mouth devoured, coals were 
kindled. (6) He bowed his heaven also, and came 
down, and darkness was under his feet. (10) He rode 
upon the cherubim, and did fly upon the wings of the 
wind." 

Gen. 6:6. "It repented God that he made man — I 
am a jealous God — God rested on the seventh day." 

Psalm 17 : 8. " Hide me under the shadow of thy wing." 

Psalm 71 : 1. '-He shall cover thee with his feathers, 
and under his wings shalt thou trust." 

Now because God is represented as having wings and 
feathers, is that a good reason why we must conclude 
that he is an eagle ? This would be more rational than 
to conclude that Peter's tabernacle is "Peter's body. 



CHAPTER IX. 

PAUL'S STRAIT BETWIXT TWO. 

" For I am in a strait betivixt two, having a desire to de- 
part, and be with, Christ ; which is far better : nevertheless, to 
abide in the flesh is more needful for you." — Phil. 1 : 23. 

To give a correct explanation of the apostle's meaning 
as expressed in this text, I deem it necessary to lay be- 
fore the reader : (1) A very brief outline of the preface to 
the epistle to the Philippians ; (2) An outline of doc- 
trine taught in the Chapter ; (3) A reasonable reading 
of the Chapter itself; and (4) Offer some concluding 
remarks. 

PREFACE TO THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 

The Apostle Paul, having preached in most of the 
countries of lesser Asia, accompanied by Silas and Timo- 
thy, was directed by a vision of the Holy Spirit to pass 
over into Europe about the spring of (51) — as generally 
supposed. 

Having left Troas* they landed at Neapolis, and from 
thence came directly to Philippi, then a Boman colony, 
Acts 16 :12. Here they remained for some time, and 
converted many, the first of whom was a woman named 
Lydia, who, immediately after her conversion, constrained 
them to come and board with her. 

In that city there was a damsel possessed of a spirit 
of divination (a species of the speaking mediums of the 
present-day Spirit Eappers) , who brought in great gain 
to her master through the fees paid by the persons who 
come to consult her. But no sooner had the men of God 
come in contact with her, than, like Balaam of old, she 
9 



98 THE LIGHT. 

was overpowered by a mightier Spirit, and following 
Paul she kept constantly crying, "■ These men are the 
servants of the Most High God, who show unto us the way 
of salvation.'' 1 

Paul being grieved because of her condition, com- 
manded the evil spirit to come out of her in the name of 
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the spirit left her (Acts 
16 : 18). " And when her masters saw that the hope of 
their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and 
dragged them into the market-place — unto the rulers, and 
there, through false accusations, caused them to be severe- 
ly whipped with cords, after which treatment they were 
cast into the inner prison, and their feet put in stocks." 

Their tortures and cruel treatment would not suffer 
them to sleep, but instead of murmuring, in the hour of 
midnight, they began to sing praises to God for his 
goodness to men, and for the honor of suffering reproach 
and pain for the name and cause of Christ. 

God, to show that their sufferings were not unheeded, 
shook the foundations of their prison, and opened every 
door, and speedily loosed their shackles, to the utter 
amazement of all present. The jailer, perceiving the 
character of his newly-arrived guests, fell at their feet 
trembling and implored, "Sirs, what must I do to be 
saved ?" To whom Paul answered, " Believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.'" The jailer with 
all his household having believed and received baptism, 
the news soon spread abroad, and many were daily added 
to the number of believers. 

The church at Philippi was the first Christian church 
planted on the continent of Europe, and it is the most 
honorable church of which we have any record in the 
New Testament. They furnished means to support 
Paul while he preached at Thessalonica, at Corinth, and 
in various other places. 

About ten years from the time of their conversion, 
they learned that Paul was the prisoner of Christ at the 
Imperial City of Rome. On hearing this report they 
gave increased evidence of their Christian zeal, and the 
veneration in which they held their spiritual father, by 



PAUL S STRAIT BETWIXT TWO. 99 

sending a large collection by the hands of Epaphroditus, 
one of their preachers, to relieve his necessities and com- 
fort him in his peculiar trials, by letting him see that 
his troubles tended only to increase their sympathy and 
regard for him. 

This good man employed himself with such assiduity 
in preaching the Gospel and ministering to Paul's wants, 
that he brought on himself a severe attack of sickness, 
which, for a season, seriously threatened his life. As soon 
as it was thought safe for him to undertake the journey, 
the Apostle dismissed him with this letter to the Philip- 
pians informing them of his long illness, and his desire to 
return to them again, and at the same time bearing a 
fresh testimony to the worthiness of his character as a 
man, and his usefulness as a preacher of the Gospel, and 
thus, more thau ever, recommending him to their love 
and esteem. — (See ch. 2 : 25.) 

AN OUTLINE OF THE SUBJECTS CONTAINED IN CHAP. 1, 

PHILIPPIANS. 

Having given the Philippians with their pastors and 
deacons his apostolical benediction, Paul thanked God 
for their conversion, and declared his confidence that 
God, who had began the good work in their hearts, would 
finish it in their salvation in the day of Christ — and 
that their faith in thfe Gospel would have a confirming 
proof from his own sufferings for the truth. He expressed 
the most tender affection for them, and prayed God to 
bestow on them many spiritual blessings, that they might 
be established in the faith, and filled with the fruits of 
ail righteousness — v. 1 to 11. 

Next, lest they might suppose that his long confinement 
would prove detrimental to the Gospel, he assured them 
that these things had turned out rather to the further- 
ance of the good cause — (12), insomuch that the Gospel 
was known in all Caesar's court and palace — (13), and 
that the indulgence shown to him caused some of the 
timid brethren to grow more bold in preaching the Gos- 
pel -(14), although many took advantage of his indul- 



100 THE LIGHT. 

gence and preached so as to enrage the heathen magis- 
trates against him, and thus increase the provocation of 
his sufferings — (15, 16). 

Yet, though some did preach Christ the Lord through 
contention, and with evil design towards him, he believed 
that through the prayers of the Church, and especially 
through the direction of the Spirit of Christ, these things 
would contribute rather to his release than to his bonds 
■ — therefore, he under all circumstances rejoiced that 
Christ's Gospel was preached — (17-19). 

Furthermore, he told the Philippians, he was resolved 
that in nothing he would be terrified, but in all boldness, 
as at all former times, he would defend the Gospel when 
brought before the Emperor, even at the hazard of los- 
ing his life — that Christ should be magnified in him, 
whether by living to preach the truth of the Gospel or by 
dying a martyr as Christ did for that truth — (20). 

He told them that his only desire to live was, that he 
might promote the cause of Christ, yet he was not cer- 
tain but what the cause might gain more by his death — 
(21). If his life was spared, persecutions, imprison- 
ments, and bodily afflictions awaited him everywhere ; 
and forasmuch as the glory of Christ was the only fruit 
he desired for his labors, and being uncertain as to 
whether Christ would not be glorified more by his death 
as a martyr for the truth, than by his living to preacdi 
the Gospel and confirm the Gentile churches — (22), 
therefore he was in a strait to know whether he should 
choose and pray for death or life. And as he well knew 
death would annihilate both time and suffering, and thus 
immediately introduce him into the presence of Christ, 
which he desired above all things, as he expresses it, 
a which is far better" that is, better than a life of 
mortal sufferings, and better than a state of unconscious- 
ness in death, such was his resignation to the divine 
will, and doubts as to which would most glorify Christ, 
that he could not readily make a choice, as he expresses 
it in the 21st verse, "for me to live is Christ, and to 
die is gain." That is, if Paul lived, he would live 
for Christ's cause, and if he died, he would die for the 



PAUL'S STRAIT BETWIXT TWO. 101 

cause. Hence, instead of his death being a loss, it would 
be a gain both to the cause and to himself — a gain 
to Christ by the glory his truth would reap from 
Paul's martyrdom — and a gain to Paul by a triumphant 
death and ease from all the sufferings consequent on his 
peculiar ministry. The consideration of these things, 
and his desire to please Christ and be with him, was what 
placed Paul in the " strait betwixt two." 

Now, if the apostle thought that death was but a mere 
change which would introduce him instantly into the 
presence of Christ — as he desired that above all things 
else, being " far better' — do you not suppose he would 
pray for death ? But no, he does not ; for he well knew « 
that " the dead know not anything" and, therefore, that 
in death he would not be with Christ. But while he 
believed Christ would de-rive more glory from his death 
as a martyr for the truth than from his life as a preacher, 
nevertheless, believing his life was more needful for the 
Philippians and other Gentile churches — (23-24J, 
he concluded his life would be prolonged for the joy 
and furtherance of their faith — (25), in which case he 
promised to visit them again ; meanwhile, he exhorted 
them all to behave suitably to the Gospel by being of one 
spirit, and in particular strenuously to maintain the true 
doctrine of the Gospel, both against the unbelieving Jews 
and also against the Gentiles ; and to be in nowise terri- 
fied by their threatenings, but to suffer cheerfully for their 
faith in Christ after his own example — (26-30). 



COMPREHENSIVE READING OF CHAP. I., PHILIPPIANS. 

[The words in italics are the words of the text and in the 
same order as laid down in the Bible ; the other words are 
supplied to make sense. The words in small capitals 
are words of the text altered, but which do no violence to the 
text, but, on the contrary, greatly improve its grammatical 
construction.] 

Verse (1) Paid and Timotheus, the servants of 
Jesus Christ, in the Gospel, to all the ( believers ) saints 
9* 



• 



102 THE LIGHT. 

in Christ Jesus, who are at Philippi, with the bishops 
and deacons. 

(2) May grace be unto you, and peace from God our 
common Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, by 
whom he dispenses all blessings. 

(3) I thank my God, the Creator of the universe, 
upon every remembrance of you. 

(4) Always in every prayer of mine, for you all 
making request with joy, that God does bestow on you 
such rich spiritual blessings. 

(5) Particularly for your perseverance and felloiv- 
ship in the gospel faith, from the first day ye believed 
until now ; that ye have not either through fear, per- 
secution, or persuasion of false teachers gone over to 
Judaism, or relapsed into heathenism. 

(6) And that ye will persevere, I have no doubt, 
being confident of this very thing, that god who hath 
begun in you a good work, of faith and love, will con- 
tinue to perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ, when, 
with the destruction of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of 
the Jews by the Eoman army, he will free you from all 
these trials. 

(7)1 express this persuasion, because it is proper for 
me to think this of you all, because I have your salvation 
in my heart, inasmuch as, in my bonds, and in the de- 
fense and confirmation of the gospel, which ye shall see 
when I am brought before the Emperor Caesar, ye all 
are joint-partakers of my grace of apostleship which 
shall be faithfully executed. 

(8) Ye cannot doubt, that in all my sufferings and 
trials. I have your perseverance and salvation in view, 
For I call God as my record, how greatly I long after 
you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ ; that is, I declare 
before G-od who knows my heart, that I love you all 
with an affection like to that with which Jesus Christ 
loved the world. 

(9) Moreover, this I pray, that your love for Christ 
and mankind, may abound yet more and more through 
your increasing knowledge of the doctrines of the Gospel, 
and in your increasing sense of the holiness of its precepts. 



Paul's strait betwixt two. 103 

(10) That ye may approve the things which are 
excellent, that ye may be sincere in your profession of 
Christ, and live strictly without offense which might 
occasion others to apostatize until the day of Christ, 
when the occasion of your present trials shall have ceased. 

(11) Being filled with the fruits of righteousness 
which are produced by faith in Jesus Christ, into the 
glory and praise of God, who by such faith makes men 
fruitful in all righteous works. 

(12) Xow lest ye should be discouraged because of 
my confinement, thinking the cause of Christ must 
suffer by it, as it is natural ye should, But I would ye 
should understand, brethren, that the things, which hap- 
pened unto me. hath fallen out rather unto the further- 
ance of the gospel than to its hindrance. 

(13) For my bonds for preaching Christ, and for 
no other offense, are manifest in all the palace and in 
all other places in this city, where I have made con- 
verts to the Gospel. 

(14) And many of the brethren in the Lord being 
confirmed in the truth of the Gospel by my boldness, and 
encouraged by my indulgence as the prisoner of Christ, 
waxing confident by my bonds are themselves much 
more bold to speak the word without fear. 

(15) But all the preachers are not equally sincere ; 
for some indeed^ through jealousy of my success, and 
a contentious disposition, preach that Christ is Lord of 
all, even with a disposition of envy and love of strife^ 
and some also of good will. 

(16) Xow the one party who preach Christ from a 
love of contention, do it not sincerely with a desire of 
promoting the cause of Christ, but, supposing to add 
affliction to my bonds, that is, to increase the- misery of 
mv situation, by enraging the heathen magistrates 
against me, under pretense of my drawing the people 
from their allegiance to Caesar. 

(17) But the other party preach through love for 
Christ, to extend his cause, and knowing that I am set 
for the defense of the gospel, they are willing to suffer 
with me. 



104 THE LIGHT. 

(18) What then? Think you I am grieved, because 
the judaizing teachers preach that Christ is risen from 
the dead, and is Lord of all? No verily, notwithstand- 
ing, every way Christ is preached ; and I therein do 
rejoice, and will rejoice ; for whatever manner, whether 
hypocritically or sincerely, Christ is preached, in this 
very thing I do, and will rejoice. 

(19) For I know that this — Christ being preached, 
instead of increasing the difficulties attending my im- 
prisonment and confinement, will tend rather to my 
release — shall turn out rather to my salvation through 
your prayers and the direction of the Spirit of Jesus 
Christ. The direction of the spirit of Jesus Christ, in 
answer to the prayers of the church at Philippi, would 
instigate some of those converted in Caesar's court 
through the preaching of the Gospel, to sue for Paul's 
release. 

(20) This I declare, According to my earnest expect- 
ation and my hope, that in nothing — no part of my 
conduct — I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness 
— preaching Christ as risen and Lord of all — as always, 
at all former times, so now also, in presence of. the Empe- 
ror, Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it 
be by life or by death. That is, Christ shall be magnified 
whether I am suffered to live and preach his name, go- 
vernment, and kingdom still more extensively throughout 
the world, or whether I am put to death a martyr, as he 
was, for the truth of the Gospel — thus am I resolved to 
confirm the truth of his Gospel and doctrine either by life 
or by death. 

(21) For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. As 
the servant of Christ and preserved by his power for the 
advancement of the Gospel, if it be his will that I shall 
live, I shall be spared for this object alone ; but to die 
would be a gain to myself individually. If, therefore, it 
is the will of Jesus Christ that, as he did, I shall die a 
martyr for the Gospel, great shall be my gain, and Christ, 
by my death, shall be magnified. 

[" My great desire is either to live or die for Christ." 
— Irish Scriptures.] 



PAUL'S STRAIT BETWIXT TWO. 105 

• 

(22) But if I live in the flesh, afflicted and persecuted, 
this, the honor of Christ and the advancement of his 
cause, is the only fruit I desire to reap from my labor, 
yet what I shall choose, whether life or death, I wot not — 
I do not know. 

(23) For I am in a strait betwixt two desires, having 
a strong desire to depart, or be freed from mortality (see 
explanation 2. Cor. 5 : 4, page—) and be with Christ ; 
which is far better to me than anything else, and for the 
attainment of which I am either willing to suffer martyr- 
dom or the afflictions consequent upon preaching the 
Gospel in this mortal state of being— I have no choice 
but the will and glory of Christ. 

(24) Nevertheless to abide a while longer in the flesh 
is more needful for you and for all the Gentile churches 
who have embraced the Gospel — as you need my labors 
to strengthen your faith. 

(25) And having this confidence — being thus persua- 
ded that it is for your advantage that I should live a 
while longer, I know that I shall abide and continue with 
you all for your furtherance in the Gospel knowledge and 
joy of faith, which will be greatly increased by my de- 
liverance from confinement. 

(26) And that your rejoicing may be more abundant 
in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again, or, 
more literally, that your boasting in me as a successful 
apostle of Jesus Christ may be justified, as shall be seen 
by my returning to you again, having successfully de- 
fended the Gospel before the highest earthly tribunals. 

As the explanation of the two concluding verses of the 
chapter is of no material object in reference to the sub- 
ject under consideration, and being limited as to room and 
means for extensive publication, I will omit them and 
conclude with a few remarks by way of application. 



REMARKS ON PAUL S STRAIT, ETC. 

" For I am in a strait betwixt two (desires), having a 
desire to depart (or be freed from mortality) and be with 



106 THE LIGHT. 

Christ — which is far better" than a continuance in this 
mortal state of trials and unceasing affliction, or than a 
cessation from all my trials and sufferings in death and 
unconsciousness. 

Paul's promises were death — then present death, or 
exemption from present death : or, in other words, 
whether he should pray for a continuation of his life 
of trials or martyrdom. To choose between these two 
points was his " strait betwixt two," and to be with Christ 
was better than either. That is, better than mortal life 
or death. He was a prisoner at the time in the city of 
Home and liable any moment to be put to death " for the 
testimony of Jesus," and his strait was, to know whether 
he should pray for deliverance from death or accept mar- 
tyrdom. — In its disconnected form this passage conveys 
no satisfactory intelligence. 

"I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart 
and be with Christ which is far better." What is it better 
than? There must be something which Paul places in 
comparison to being with Christ — something that to be 
with Christ was better than. But the text in itself does 
not say what that thing is. But if the meaning of this 
text is allowed to harmonize with the general scope and 
meaning of the whole epistle, then this figurative ex- 
pression is both forcible and expressive, as the combined 
parts of the sentence express the apostle's desire for 
heaven, and also his resignation, in suffering, the divine 
will, while the meaning Gentilism would force upon 
it, leaves it unintelligible, inconsistent with its own gram- 
matical construction and the general meaning of the 
whole epistle. 

By reading the 20th to the 25 th verses inclusive, the 
apostle's meaning cannot, by any intelligent mind, be 
misunderstood. He was resolved that in nothing he 
would be terrified, but in all boldness, as on all former 
occasions, he would defend the Gospel when brought 
before the Emperor — even at the hazard of losing 
his life. 

Christ should be magnified in his body, whether by 
living to preach him as risen from death and Lord of 



Paul's strait betwixt two. 107 

all, or by dying a martyr as Christ did for the truth. He 
told the Philippians that his only desire to live was that 
he might promote the cause of Christ — yet he was un- 
certain whether his living to preach, or dying to confirm, 
the truth of the Gospel would promote the cause most. 
If his life was spared, persecutions, imprisonments, 
and bodily afflictions awaited him everywhere — therefore, 
while for him " to live was Christ — i. e., he lived to pro- 
mote the interests of Christ — to die was gain" as he 
would finish his ministry with truth and heaven on his 
side and eternal glory in view, and he would also be freed 
from all the trials he had daily to endure and a glorious 
resurrection awaited him. And forasmuch as the glory 
of Christ was the only fruit he desired from his labors, 
and it was with him uncertain whether Christ would not 
be glorified more by his death for the truth than by his 
life to preach and confirm the Gentile Churches in the 
faith, therefore he was in a strait to know whether he 
would choose and pray for life or death. His desire to 
glorify Christ either by his life or his death was such 
that he could not readily make a choice. This is the 
natural meaning of the " Strait betwixt two" 

Now, by reading the 8th to the 14 inclusive of chapter 
3d, Philippians, it will be seen that Paul had not the 
slightest idea of any reward till Jesus Christ will come 
again and raise him from death. He says he regarded 
all human attainments as a loss, when placed in compari- 
son with the excellent knowledge of Christ Jesus the 
Lord. And in proof of this he told the Philippians that 
he had dropped them all as hindrances, in order that he 
might obtain justification through Christ alone. That 
in the end he may be found a believer in Christ — not hold- 
ing on to his own ideas of obtaining righteousness through 
obedience to legal ceremonies which never did avail 
anything in the justification of sinners, but that he 
might obtain the righteousness of faith — being the only 
righteousness of which a sinner is capable. And which 
leads men to know Christ experimentally as their Saviour, 
and the power of his resurrection, which confirms that 
faith, and establishes a fellowship of his sufferings, as all 



108 THE LIGHT. 

possessing true faith in Christ are ready, if necessary, to 
die with and for him, as martyrs for truth. And know- 
ing that such faith and such righteousness shall be 
rewarded with a glorious resurrection from among the 
dead— a resurrection to immortality and eternal life — 
therefore, Paul cheerfully endured all the trials conse- 
quent upon the faithful discharge of his ministry — that 
as he tells us, " if by any means he might attain unto 
the glorious resurrection of the righteous dead" 11. (See 
Horn. 8 : 22.) 

This was the grand prize for obtaining which Paul 
represented himself as running the Christian race-course, 
and which he expected to obtain when all the Sons of 
God are liberated from the bondage and corruption of 
the grave. 

In the 20th and 21st verses, he tells the Philippians — 
that both in their conversation and public preaching 
they pointed their disciples to heaven as the place of 
their reward and inheritance, whence they looked 
for the Lord Jesus Christ to come and change their 
vile or corruptible body and transform it into the 
likeness of his glorious body. To have such glorious 
body as Paul saw Christ in when he appeared to him 
as he was on his way to Damascus, was the ambition 
of his whole life afterwards ; he longed for it, he sighed 
for it, and he labored that he might obtain it in common 
with all the righteous dead. That when the glorious re- 
demption of the Sons of G-od will take place, he might be 
found a believer in Christ as his Saviour — that he might 
behold his glory and be like him when he shall see him 
as he is. But if Paul expected to go to Christ in death 
and remain evermore with him, as he tells us that was 
the highest possible state of happiness that he could 
conceive — what need he further care for the resurrection 
of a body which could form no part of the Paul now in 
glory ? A resurrection could only introduce him into 
heaven and glory ; but he is already there if the popular 
theory be correct, and being already with Christ, why 
does he pant for a resurrection that will introduce him 
to Christ ? If he believed that at death he would imme- 



paul's strait betwixt two. 109 

diately enter into the presence of Christ, there could be 
no sense in his throwing away all human attainments, 
and rejecting them as dung, that he might obtain the 
righteousness of Christ and be found a believer in him, 
and not depending on his own righteousness which is by 
law, '• if by any means he might attain unto the resur- 
rection of the de-id. ' And why should he have pointed 
all believers to a glorious resurrection as the reward of 
their •faith and perseverance in trials, if at death they 
could 2*0 to heaven without a resurrection? 

He told the Corinthians, that if there is no resurrection 
of the dead to be expected — then "they that have fallen 
asleep in Christ are peri. shed." — They could not perish 
while thev existed anywhere. Xo, existence in the or- 
thodox hell even would preclude their perishing — but 
those that fell asleep in Christ were the pious believers, 
and surely we cannot suppose that they could have gone 
to hell, but to heaven ; neither can any one suppose that 
in heaven any one can perish ; but Paul says that if there 
is no resurrection of the dead to be expected, then they 
who have fallen asleep in Christ are perished, that is, 
they were perished when he wrote to the Corinthians. 
Therefore Paul did not conceive them as existing in 
heaven, but dead in their graves awaiting that glorious 
resurrection which he called the prize of the righteous, 
and to obtain which, he was more than willing to sacri- 
nee all worldly interests. 

But the objector will say, that Paul's language, 
"having a desire to depart and be with Christ" is defi- 
nite, and as Paul knew his body could not depart, there- 
fore, he mast have expected and believed that in death 
something that constituted him would go to Christ, else 
he spoke thoughtlessly. 

In reply to this objection, I remark, that if this were 
the only occasion on which the apostle used such figu- 
rative expression — having reference to the resurrection 
of the just while it was expressed in the present tense — 
and if his language in general did not contradict such 
forced meaning, there might be some force in the objec- 
tion : but by no just rule of criticism can one text or 
10 



110 THE LIGHT. 

sentence in any man's letter — and that an obscure one 
also — be made to contradict the whole drift and meaning 
of all that the letter contains. 

If Paul could have meant that in death he expected 
to enter into the presence of Christ, he could not have 
meant that to partake in the resurrection of the righteous 
dead was the prize of his high calling of G-od, to receive 
which he sacrificed all worldly prospects — but which 
Prize he had not yet obtained and therefore wai not 
perfect. The language of the Apostle evidently means 
this : to be with Christ is the highest bliss possible, 
but a resurrection from death is necessary to introduce 
me to Christ — therefore, I have sacrificed all things to 
attain unto the resurrection of the righteous dead. 



CHAPTER X. 

" TO-DAY SHALT THOU BE WITH ME IN PARA- 
DISE."— Luke 23 : 42. 

This, we are told by the Evangelist, is a promise 
which Jesus Christ made to one of the malefactors who 
were crucified with him on Calvary. " And one of the 
malefactors who were hanged railed on him, saying. 
If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the 
other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou 
fear God ! seeing thou art in the same condemnation ? 
and we indeed justly, for we receive the reward of our 
deeds ; but this man hath done nothing amiss. And 
he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou 
comest in thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, 
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be 
with me in Paradise." 

This text has furnished food for much learned specu- 
lation among those who are called masters in Israel. 
They think it is a sufficient proof for the unreasonable 
theory, which teacheth that man has conscious existence 
in death. They think as both the Saviour and pious 
robber were put to death together, and as each had a 
separate place of burial, that Christ would not have 
made the robber the promise contained in the text, un- 
less there is a place where both had conscious exist- 
ence on the hour immediately after their crucifixion. 

We shall see how far their theory is supported by 
Scripture, reasonably explained and understood. 

In reference to the pious robber's request, and the 
Saviour's promise to him on that occasion, it should 
be remembered that he asked Christ to grant no favor 



112 THE LIGHT. 

on the day of their crucifixion, but only " when thou 
comest in thy kingdom remember me ?" And that our 
Saviour's reply had reference to that day, appears very 
evident when we consider that the phrase, " To-day," 
differs widely in meaning from the ordinary sense we 
attach to the word in common conversation. 

The word does not scripturally mean twenty-four 
hours, but time indefinitely considered, the time 
during which anything is transacted. When God is 
represented as using the word in reference to himself, it 
means duration without limits ; for as neither his being 
nor attributes are limited or affected by time, with him 
it must and does mean one eternal now. 

When addressed to man in reference to his conduct 
in the present life, it also means time indefinite — any 
time when God speaks to him : " While it is called To- 
day." But it has special reference to the day of man's 
redemption, when he is raised from death to enter into 
that glorious " rest that remaineth for the people of 
God. 



THE SCRIPTURAL MEANING OF THE PHRASE — TO-DAY 

The Jews, relying on the promise which God made to 
Abraham, that he would give to him and to his posteri- 
ty the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and 
regarding themselves the seed of Abraham, they felt en- 
titled to the perpetual possession of that land wherein 
they dwelt, and looked for a Messiah who would deliver 
them from the political yoke of their enemies, and reign 
over them in the land of Canaan. 

The Apostle Paul having shown them, in the intro- 
duction of his epistle to the Hebrews, that the same 
God who spoke the ancient revelations to the fathers of 
the Jewish nation by the prophets, had, in the last days 
of the Mosaic dispensation, spoken the Gospel to man- 
kind. 

That the person by whom he spoke the Gospel reve- 



TO-DAY SHALT THOU BE WITH ME, ETC. 113 

lation is bis own Son, who, though in human nature, is 
the effulgence of the divine glory and the person by 
whom all things were created. That the author of the 
Gospel revelation, in consequence of his having created 
all things, is governor of the universe and Lord of all. 
That he laid down his life a sacrifice for sin, and by the 
sacrifice of himself, made atonement, of which, when 
offered, God declared his acceptance by setting Jesus on 
his "right hand : And, forasmuch as the Author of the 
Gospel revelation, by virtue of his nature and office, is 
so much higher than the angels, or Moses, through 
whom the law was given to the Jews, Paul exhorts the 
Hebrews to give diligent heed to the Gospel invitation, 
to enter the rest promised to Abraham and to his spirit- 
ual seed : and, especially, to beware of an evil heart of 
unbelief, which may weaken their attachment to, and 
separate their connection from, the living God. — See 
Heb. chaps. I., II. III. 

The Apostle commences the fourth chapter of He- 
brews by repeating the exhortation given in chapter 3 : 
12, 13, 15, and enters into the meanitfg of the passages 
of the Jewish Scriptures, where the phrase, " To-day 11 
occurs, and the sin and punishment of the rebellious Is- 
raelites who, in the wilderness, absolutely refused to en- 
ter " To-day" into the promised rest, typified by the 
rest of Canaan. 

That the reader may the better comprehend the 
Apostle's meaning, I will here place each word in the 
same order that they are laid down in the Testament 
italicized, so that they can be read either alone or in 
connection with the words which I shall insert for ex- 
planation. 



paul's epistle to the hebeews, ch. iv, 1-10. 

(1) Seeing the Israelites were excluded from the rest 
of Canaan for their unbelief and disobedience, Let us 
therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering 
10* 



114 THE LIGHT. 

into his (God's) rest, any of you should seem to come 
short of it. 

(2) For unto us, as Abraham' s spiritual seed, was the 
Gospel preached as well as unto them : but the word, or 
tidings of the heavenly Canaan, preached did not profit 
them, not being mixed with faith in tliem that heard it. 

(3) For, according to God's promise, we, the seed of 
Abraham, who have believed, do (or shall) enter into 
God's rest. A rest different from the seventh-day rest, 
as he said, to the unbelieving Jews in the wilderness. 
As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into 
my rest, although the works of creation were finished and 
the seventh-day rest instituted from the foundation of 
the world, consequently, it could not be the rest from 
which God swore they should be excluded, as they had 
entered into that rest before the oath was sworn. 

(4) Now, that the seventh-day rest is God's rest, and 
that it was instituted at the creation is evident. For he, 
Moses, spake in a certain place of the seventh day rest 
on this wise: And God did rest the seventh day from all 
his works. — Gen. 2:2. 

(5) And in this 'place again, in the 95 th Psalm, the 
Holy Spirit said again to the unbelieving Jews who 
were in possession of Canaan in David's time, " They 
shall not enter into my rest." This shows that another 
rest besides that of Canaan was promised to Abraham's 
spiritual seed — a rest which would be forfeited by unbe- 
lief, but obtained by faith and patient continuance in 
well-doing. [See Rom. 2:7.] 

(6) Seeing, therefore, it, the rest, remained in David's 
time to be entered, and it is understood from these 
things that some must enter therein, and they to whom 
the tidings of it was first preached, entered not into the 
rest of Canaan through unbelief, it follows that all who 
receive the tidings of the heavenly country shall not en- 
ter it if they believe not on him who preached it. 

(7) Again seeing he, the Holy Spirit, limiteth a cer- 
tain day, saying in David's time : To-day, after the na- 
tion had possession of the land of Canaan, so long a 
time ; as it is said. Ps. 95 : 7. To-day, if ye will hear 



TO-DAY SHALT THOU BE WITH ME, ETC. 115 

his voice harden not your hearts against entering God's 
rest. 

(8) For if Jesus (Joshua), by introducing the Israel- 
ites into Canaan, had given them rest according to the 
full meaning of God's promise, then would he not (the 
Holy Spirit) afterward have spoken of another day for 
entering God's rest. 

(9) Seeing the Israelites did not in Canaan enter 
into God's rest, there remaineth, therefore, a rest for the 
people of God to enter — a rest full, free, uninterrupted, 
and eternal. 

(10) For he, Christ, that is entered into his (God's) 
rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, of trials 
and suffering, as God did from his works of creation. 
Hence, the Sabbath-day rest was a type, as also the rest 
in Canaan, of the heavenly rest that remaineth to be 
entered. 

The Apostle's strain of reasoning leads us to believe, 
1. That the command to the Israelites in the wilderness 
to enter God's rest, typified by the land of Canaan, was 
not confined to that time, nor to that people alone, but 
is a command to men of every age and place to enter 
the rest of God when commanded to do so. 

2. That neither the Israelites, nor any of mankind 
can, or ever have, as vet, entered that rest except by 
faith ; and that all who really believe the promises of 
the Gospel do by faith enter into God's rest the moment 
they believe. 

11 For we who have believed" said Paul, " do enter 
into rest, and there remaineth a rest for the people of 
God: 1 (See verses 3, 9.) 

The Apostle's argument is as conclusive as it is irre- 
sistible, namely : That if neither the Sabbath-day rest 
nor yet the rest of Canaan were God's rest, t herefore 
the rest still remained to be entered. And if the Israel- 
ites at Kadish could by faith enter that rest, and the 
Jews who lived in Canaan in David's time could do the 
same, and it still remained in Paul's time to be entered 
by faith, i; while it is called to-day," we can see no 
reasonable objection to the penitent robber's entering 



116 THE LIGHT. 

also by faith the rest of God, " while it is called to- 
day " and the manner by which he entered seems easily 
understood. 

Now we see, by Paul's inspired reasoning, that the 
meaning of the phrase, " to-day" had, in Moses', and in 
David's, and in Paul's day, reference to a rest which is 
still future, but which could be entered by faith in the 
time of either. Paul, referring to the divine command 
given to the Jews in the wilderness, says : " Exhort one 
another daily while it is called to-day''* (Heb. 3 : 13-15), 
which plainly teacheth that he did not understand the 
phrase, " to-day," to mean any one day in contradistinc- 
tion to another day, but all time, as preparatory to 
that day when Christ shall come and fulfill the promises 
of God to Abraham and to his seed, by faith. It was 
in that day that the pious robber asked Christ to re- 
remember him : " Lord, remember me when thou comest 
in thy kingdom." The robber's faith implied much. 
He knew and believed that though Christ was despised, 
poor, and helpless, yet, as the son of God, he was heir 
to the kingdom of God. He was the king of Israel, and 
he would, at the time appointed of the Father, take 
possession of the kingdom under the whole heavens — 
the new Jerusalem. Hence the robber's request had 
reference to that time. Christ has not come into his 
kingdom yet ; for none of the subjects of that kingdom 
are yet raised from the dead. He had no possessions, 
nor where to lay his head, till he rose from the dead ; 
and it is purely ridiculous to suppose that he could be- 
stow kingly favors while on the cross or in the tomb. 

It was after his ascension to heaven, that " the Lord 
said unto my Lord, Sit on my right hand, till I make 
thine enemies thy footstool ." (See Ps. 110 : 1.) And to 
show that this rest of God is to be enjoyed only through 
faith of the life to come, and that, like Christ, all must 
be raised from death to enter that rest, the Apostle, in 
Heb. 4 : 10, referring to Christ, says : " For he (Christ) 
that is entered into his (God's) rest, he also ceased from 
his own works (of trials and sufferings), as God did 
from his works" (of creation) ; consequently he enjoys a 



TO-DAY SHALT THOU BE WITH ME, ETC. 117 

happiness like to God's in the contemplation of his past 
works. 

M.nd again, speaking of Christ's present abode, Paul 
says : " Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the 
light which no man can approach unto, whom no man 
hath seen, nor can see" — while dwelling in that light, 
of course. — 2 Tim. 4 : 16. 

Moses, David, and Paul called the present moment 
with each of them, to-day, and, according to Paul's rea- 
soning, it had reference, in each instance, to the day of 
Christ's coming into his kingdom. Christ has not yet 
come into his kingdom, but is sitting at the right hand 
of God, waiting till the proper time arrives, when he 
will make his appearance to reward his saints, by rais- 
ing them from death, and introducing them into 
" the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation 
of the world." And if we can believe, on Divine au- 
thority, that the phrase, " to-day" before and after 
Christ's crucifixion, meant and had reference to the day 
of righteous judgment, there ought to be no difficulty 
in the way of our seeing that it meant the same thing 
when spoken by Christ, especially in reply to a request 
having direct reference to that day — " Remember me 
when thou co mest into thy kingdom.'''' 

This view of the passage harmonizes the language of 
Christ to Mary at the tomb — u I have not yet ascended 
to my Father" — with his promise to the robber, and to 
all his disciples, which consisted uniformly of the prom- 
ise of raising them from death, at the last day, to inherit 
eternal life in the kingdom of God. Neither did Christ, 
nor any of his apostles, promise a reward to any one, 
nor threaten the punishment of any one, before they 
were raised from the dead. 

Paul says, that " if the dead rise not, then they, also, 
who are fallen asleep in Christ, are perished." (1 Cor. 
15 : 18.) They who are asleep in Christ are they who 
have died in the faith of the Gospel. They have no 
conscious existence now, and never shall have, till they 
are raised from the dead. If the pious robber went 
with Christ to Paradise on the day of their crucifixion, 



118 THE LIGHT. 

he could not perish there ; but Paul, speaking what was 
directly revealed to him by the Lord Jesus Christ, says, 
all who died in the faith of the Gospel are perished,* if 
there is no resurrection to be expected. 'Now, the pious 
robber died in the faith of the Gospel ; and Paul says, 
that, without a resurrection, he is perished. If he had 
gone to Paradise on the day of his crucifixion, he could 
not perish there if there was never a resurrection of any 
that died ; but Paul says, he is perished without a re- 
surrection ; therefore, we conclude the pious robber is 
not yet in Paradise. 

But Gentilism tells us, it was Christ's soul that went 
to Paradise on the day of his crucifixion, and it was to 
the soul of the pious robber the promise applied. But 
the Bible makes no allusion to the robber's soul ; the 
promise is to himself, not to his soul ; and we are dis- 
tinctly told by the Apostle Peter, that Christ's soul 
went to the grave, improperly translated hell. "Thou 
wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer 
thy holy one to see corruption" — in hell implied. — Acts 
2 : 27. 

He says, David did not speak this concerning him- 
self; but, being a prophet, he spoke it concerning 
Christ's resurrection, that his soul was not left in hell — 
the grave — because he was raised from the dead, and 
has ascended to the heavens ; but David is not raised — 
he is in his sepulchre, and is not yet ascended to the hea- 
vens.— See Acts 2 : 22-35. 

Peter's argument, which conclusively proves that 
Christ's soul was not left in the grave, does as conclu- 
sively prove that David's soul is still in the grave, and 
awaiting the resurrection. And we conclude that, if 
David is in hell, or the grave — I care not which you 
.call it — therefore, all others who were buried in hell, 
or the grave, are still there, and the pious robber is ly- 
ing with them, in hope of that blessed promise which 
Christ made him, and which shall be fulfilled — " to-day." 
That Christ's soul went to hell, or the grave, is proved 
by Peter ; for to argue that his soul was not left where 
it did not go, would be worse than nonsense, and as 



TO-DAY SHALT THOU BE WITH ME, ETC. 119 

Christ's soul went to hell, it is certain the robber's soul 
went there also ; and as Christ's soul was not left in hell, 
because he had a resurrection from death, we conclude, 
therefore, the robber's soul is left in hell, or the grave, 
because he has yet had no resurrection. 

As my limited means will not admit of my publishing 
lengthy arguments ; and as I think enough has been said 
to 'show, that the common theory respecting this pas- 
sage is wrong, I shall leave the reader room for pious 
contemplation, and to fill up all the vacancies which may 
occur to his own intelligent mind. 



IN CONCLUSION. 

We understand from the holy Scriptures that, " as in 
Adam all die even so in or by Christ shall all be made 
alive" i. e., as on account of Adam's transgression all 
men died, even so, on account of Christ's obedience, shall 
all men be restored to life again. 

In reference to God's designs or power, time cannot 
affect either his dispensations or dealings with his crea- 
tures, because neither of his attributes is limited by 
time or circumstance, but man, the creature of time 
and circumstances, may be, and is, affected by both. 
With God all things are absolutely certain — with man 
nothing is certain, as time and circumstances will frus- 
trate all his plans and calculations. By the creation of 
Adam and Eve, God created the whole race of man in 
one day ; for he macie them capable of producing or 
procreating their species, and commanded them to do 
so — "be ye fruitful and multiply, and fill the whole 
earth, and subdue it." 

By Adam's transgression, all his posterity transgress- 
ed in one day — and, as all were created and sinned in 
Adam before they were born, so they all died in him 
before they were born. Now, this is the meaning of — 
" As in Adam all died, even so in Christ shall all be 
made alive" . . . . But lest it might be inferred, 
that all will be made alive in one day ... Paul 
adds, " but every one in his own order" Christ the 



120 THE LIGHT. 

first fruits (is already risen). They that are Christ's 
(shall be made alive) at his (second) coming, " then 
(after that), cometh the end." This is the time when 
Christ shall give up the kingdom over which he has 
reigned with his redeemed a thousand years, while the 
rest of the dead " lived not again till the thousand years 
ended. As the human family passively sinned in 
Adam — so they have obeyed passively in Christ. And 
as they have suffered death for Adam's transgression, so 
they shall be brought to life through Christ's obedi- 
ence. 

None of Christ's family can be redeemed, till all are 
redeemed — neither can any of the non-redeemed be 
brought to life, till all are brought to life together. It 
does not follow that, because the whole of Adam's race 
must have the life they lost in him restored to them by 
Christ, that, therefore, all mankind will be saved, all 
will be saved from the first death, but not from the 
second death. 

It would not be just that any one should lose his life 
for the sin of another, unless that life is again restored 
to its possessor According to our under- 
standing of the Gospel plan of redemption, the life and 
position that every man lost by Adam's transgression, 
shall be restored to them by Christ ; but immortality 
and eternal life are given to the righteous only ; immor- 
tality is the reward of faith, and well-doing here. 

Christ redeemed Adam from immediate annihilation 
in death, by the promise of obeying the law which he 
had transgressed, and also, of dying in his stead to 
atone for the guilt which he incurred. Now, in prospect- 
ively dying for Adam — (as the lamb slain from the 
foundation of the world) , and obeying the law for him, 
he obeyed and died for every one who came from Adam's 
loins. 

Adam, as the federal head of the human race, is called 
the " figure or type of him (Christ), that was to 
come." — Rom. 5 : 14. 

Adam's transgression involved the transgression and 
death both of himself and all his posterity — and he, as 



TO-DAi AixALT THOU BE WITH ME, ETC. 121 

the destroyer of the human family, was by contrast the 
type of Christ as their Redeemer to life, therefore 
Christ's obedience must embrace the whole human race : 
and, according to the terms of the divine covenant, as 
also, the strict and plainest rules of analytical reason- 
ing, in the order of the divine arrangement, not one of 
the redeemed can enter the kingdom of God till all enter 
together, neither can any of the wicked be finally con- 
demned till all are condemned together. 

In God's day and arrangement, all men were created 
together, all sinned together, all died together, and all 
were respited or redeemed together, from Adam's death. 

To man, in this state of probation, Christ offers eter- 
nal life as the reward of believing and obeying the Gos- 
pel, " To-day, while it is called To-day.'' The day 
of Christ, " while it is called to-day," in reference to 
the redeemed, extends from the time that Adam sinned 
till the day of righteous judgment. Or, in other 
words, the day of Christ commenced in Paradise when 
Adam was expelled, and it will close when Adam with 
all the redeemed is restored to the Paradise of God, 
the anti-type of Adam's Paradise. 

This time embraces the whole day of negotiation be- 
tween God the Eternal and Christ the Redeemer. 
Adam was expelled in the morniug from the Paradise 
of Creation, he will 4)e redeemed from death and re- 
stored to the Paradise of Grace in the evening, or the 
end, of * To-day" with God. 
11 



CHAPTER XL 
EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT. 

" And these shall go away into everlasting punishme?it, but 
tlie righteous into life eternal." — Mat. 25 : 46. 

I presume no biblical scholar will deny but the Gospel 
of Matthew was written originally in Hebrew. And the 
Hebrew text reads as follows — we-yai-le-choo ail-leh le-o- 
nesh o-lam, we-haz-za-de-kim le-chay yay-o-lam. I cannot 
better express the meaning of the Hebrew than give a 
translation of the Irish text on this passage — il A?id these 
shall expire in eternal 'punishment, but the just shall enter 
on eternal being. 11 

The Greek text simply says that the wicked enter on 
kolasin aionion eternal punishment, but the righteous 
enter on zoen aionion eternal existence. 

Read the text in what language you may and the 
meaning of it is simple. To one class is promised eter- 
nal punishment, and, as the antithesis or contrast to 
that punishment, the others are promised eternal life or 
being. The plain teaching of the text, then, is this : In 
the great judgment day the righteous shall be rewarded 
with eternal life, while the wicked will be punished 
with eternal death. Laying aside all sophistry, no one 
can make more nor less of the text than this : that the 
righteous shall be rewarded with eternal existence or be- 
ing — and that the wicked shall be punished with death 
eternal or non-existence. Eternal death is the only natu- 
ral and proper contrast of eternal life. 

The Holy Scriptures in numerous instances promise 
the righteous that they shall put on immortality and have 



EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT. 123 

eternal life, and they as forcibly and expressly declare 
that the wicked shall be burned up ; yea, that the Lord of 
Hosts shall burn them up so that they shall be left u either 
root nor branch — that they shall die — that they shall be 
destroyed utterly, and that they shall perish — that they 
shall be as though they were not — and that no place shall 
be found for them." Yet, notwithstanding the many 
declarations of Scripture in reference to the utter de- 
struction of the wicked, many pious people suppose the 
justice of God requires that the wicked shall be immor- 
talized in order that they may be enabled to endure 
eternal conscious misery — because they think the justice 
of God is such as to demand the conscious misery of a 
creature through eternal duration for the sins of an 
hour (!) (strange ideas of God and his justice). 

This theory, they think, is sustained by the language of 
the present text. Because it says that the wicked shall 
go away into, or enter on, or be subjected to, everlasting 
punishment. 

We think their mistake is owing to the erroneous 
notion, that pain and punishment are inseparably con- 
nected ; hence, when God threatens the everlasting or 
eternal punishment of the wicked, they immediately 
transfer the eternal punishment to eternal pains. Just 
because, in their own minds, there is an idea that pain 
and punishment are co-essential, therefore they hastily 
and erroneously conclude the text must mean the same. 
Now, a moment's reflection only is necessary to show 
that pain and punishment are not essentially connected. 

If pain were essential to constitute punishment, then 
all civilized laws inflict the least punishment on the 
greatest offenders. Civil laws regard life as the greatest 
blessing that a man can have, and that the deprivation 
of life is not only the greatest evil, loss, or penalty, but 
also the highest degree of punishment. Now, then, if 
lite is a blessing, the deprivation of it is a loss and punish- 
ment, and if so, then the eternal deprivation of life is 
eternal punishment. 

But same people think that a person cannot be pun- 
ished unless they are conscious of the fact. This is an 



124 THE LIGHT. 

erroneous idea, and the laws of our land are the proof of 
it ; for they do not regard pain and punishment as co- 
essential, else death would be considered a favor rather 
than a punishment. 

Behind the act of the deprivation of life the law 
does not, because it cannot, go — neither is the manner 
of putting the individual to death considered by the law 
as constituting a part of his punishment, but the depri- 
vation of life is in itself the punishment. 

For instance, we will suppose a being whose life is the 
most imaginably wretched, the law would regard the 
deprivation of that life, miserable as it might be, the 
very highest degree of punishment that it could inflict — 
nor would the case be altered even though the individual 
were the most zealous and hopeful Christian ; because the 
law does not look into the future — that is, to consider 
what blessings God may confer or what punishment he 
may inflict after death. The law regards the present 
time and regulates its penalties and punishments with 
regard to the present ; and we find that the deprivation 
of life itself — not the pain inflicted, nor yet the pain 
which God may inflict after death — is what the law 
looks to, and regards the very highest degree of punish- 
ment within its power. 

It requires but the slightest reflection to perceive that 
the deprivation of life is a punishment, no matter whether 
the individual, as in the estimation of some, might be 
a gainer or loser by the act ; because life in itself is 
considered a blessiDg. Now, then, if the deprivation of 
that blessing is eternal, then the punishment is eternal. 
Hence, do we think it evident that the eternal punish- 
ment of the wicked, when placed as the contrast of the 
eternal life of the righteous, is — nay, must be, eternal 
death. In fact, any other view of eternal punishment, 
when placed in opposition to eternal life, does violence 
to right reason, as also to the general tenor of inspired 
revelation. 

" The wages of sin is death," said the apostle, " but 
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our 
Lord."— Rom. 6 : 23. 



EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT. 125 

The life here promised, as the special gift of God, is 
that eternal life promised in Chap. 2 : 7 of the same 
Epistle, as the reward of patient continuance in well- 
doing to those who seek for glory, honor, and immortal- 
ity — and the death and life here mentioned have evident 
reference to the state succeeding the resurrection. As 
eternal life is the special blessing which God promises 
to confer through Christ as the reward of well-doing, it 
follows that eternal death must be the punishment of 
sin — and the state being final, the eternity of the former 
incontrovertibly settles the eternity of the latter .... 
If the highest angel in heaven should for any cause have 
his life eternally blotted out — even without the smallest 
pang of conscious suffering, the punishment to him would 
be eternal punishment. 

Nothing can be stranger than the necessity, to an 
intelligent person, of proving that the loss of life is a 
punishment, seeing the tenacity with which not only 
human beings — but every creature, conscious of its own 
existence, clings to it. The man who cannot perceive 
that life is the highest gift of God, is neither morally nor 
intellectually in a condition to duly appreciate the appear- 
ing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, " who hath 
abolished (the fear of) death and brought (the hope of) life 
and immortality to light through the GospeL" Nor yet 
is he in a condition to answer the interrogatory of Christ, 
" what shall it profit a man though he gain the whole 
world and lose his own life?" (improperly translated 
soul) or what shall a man give in exchange for his 
life?"— (soul). 

Endless life versus endless punishment, is the language 
of the text, and upon this, thousands of honest people 
build the strange notion that countless millions of wicked 
people shall suffer an eternity of conscious misery in 
fearful torments. If the text said the wicked should 
enter on endless pains, endless torments, or endless 
misery, then would there be some reason for supposing 
there was truth in this horrible idea ; for endless pains 
would imply endless consciousness, and the consciousness 
misery or torment — but the text intimates no such 
11* 



126 THE LIGHT 

word — neither can the meaning of endless misery, by 
any fair construction, be fastened upon endless punish- 
ment. 

The text simply states that the punishment of the 
wicked, as to duration, is endless as the blessing of the 
righteous. And as the blessing of the righteous is de- 
clared to be life eternal, and this is placed in contrast 
with the punishment of the wicked, reason demands that 
we understand the punishment of the wicked to be 
eternal death. 

Now, if God had anywhere declared that the wicked 
must endure eternal torment or misery., painful and 
cruel as the things must appear to our humanity, yet 
every Christian believer would admit that the Judge of 
all the earth had done right, and they would seek for cause 
to justify the cruel barbarity of the sentence. By the 
same candor should we admit, if God declared the doom 
of the wicked to be " Everlasting Destruction,'' 1 the 
punishment is no less eternal and the Judge of all the 
earth has done right. What would constitute the one 
punishment would make the other punishment, and what 
renders the one eternal — renders the other also eternal. 

Now, the Gospel declares " the wicked shall be pun- 
ished with everlasting destruction from the presence of 
the Lord, and from the glory of his power." — (2 Thes. 
1:9.) 

Thus, revelation declares the penalty of God's law, in 
reference to its import punishment, in reference to 
duration, to be everlasting ; in reference to its nature, 
destruction ; and this destruction is from the presence of 
the Lord, which fills the universe, to evade which the 
wicked must be blotted out, must utterly perish. 

The rewards and punishments of the Gospel, as de- 
clared by its author, are definite, viz., everlasting pun- 
ishment to the wicked, and eternal life to the righteous. 
If the wicked have existence anywhere, how can their 
punishment be made the antithesis, or contrast, of the 
eternal life of the righteous ? for, if the wicked have life 
at all, then their life is no less life than that of the 
righteous, because any being, having conscious existence, 



EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT. 127 

is as truly in possession of life as the most favored 
creature in the universe. Hence, the promise of life 
eternal, to the righteous as a boon, would have no mean- 
ing if the wicked were not deprived of it : for a miserable 
life eternal is as truly a life eternal as a happy life 
eternal. But the text makes no qualifications — does not 
modify the life of the righteous, nor yet the punishment 
of the wicked, but only places the one in simple contrast 
to the other ; and as death is the opposite to life, the 
promise of life to the one establishes the promise of 
death, to the other. Had there not been another text in 
the Bible threatening the wicked with destruction, 
death, perdition, etc., this in itself should settle the ques- 
tion as to the mode of punishment. How any one can 
understand life to be the antithesis, or contrast, to life, 
is to me a wonder. 

Numerous are the passages of Scripture that contrast 
the punishment of the wicked with the life eternal of 
the righteous. "Jesus said to Xicodemus, as Moses 
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the 
Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in 
him should not perish, but have everlasting life." — 
(John 3 : 14-16.) 

You see the term perish in this passage is placed in 
opposition to everlasting life. Again, it is said, " He 
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life (or the 
promise), and he that believeth not shall not see life 
(everlasting), but the wrath of God abideth on him." — ■ 
(Jno. 3 : 35.) " He that believeth on the Son of God, 
hath the witness in himself ; he that believeth not God, 
hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the re- 
cord that God gave of his Son. And this is the record 
that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in 
his Son." " He that hath the Son hath life, and he that 
hath not the Son of God hath not life." — (1 Jno. 5 : 
10,11,12.) 

This also is in perfect agreement with the Apostle Paul : 
" The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is 
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. " And 
this life is in his Son," — John. Behold the apostolical 



128 THE LIGHT. 

testimony ! Indeed, the burden of apostolical preaching 
seems to have been, that faith in Christ would save men 
from eternal death, which in no instance did they re- 
present as a modification of life (i. e., miserable life). 

The passages which make eternal life conditional 
would, if put together, make quite a volume. * * * * 
" Whosoever believeth on him ( Christ) shall not perish, 
hut have everlasting life." The condition of everlast- 
ing life in this passage is, belief in Christ ; where a 
reward is conditionally promised, and the condition is 
not fulfilled, it is unreasonable presumption to expect 
the fulfillment of the promise. If faith in Christ be the 
only condition of salvation, then the rejection of Christ 
must secure condemnation and perdition in death. 
And if it be the part of wisdom, and agreeable to reason, 
to believe the promise of God respecting salvation — 
when he declares " He that believeth not the Son shall 
not see life" (eternal), is it not as wise and reasonable, 
and does it not belong as much to the province of faith, 
to believe his word in the latter as in the former pro- 
mises? We conclude, therefore, that so sure as the 
believer obtains eternal life through belief of the 
Gospel, so sure must the unbeliever obtain eternal death 
through rejecting the Gospel. 

In no part of the Holy Scriptures has God promised 
eternal life to the wicked, and those who teach that a 
wicked man cannot die, deceive that man, and flatter 
his vanity by deifying him — teaching him that he shall 
be a God and cannot die ; just as Satan did to our 
first parents in Eden. * * * * * 

Many preachers are unconsciously teaching the 
devil's doctrine — that man through transgression shall 
not die ; but shall only be made miserable. * * * * 

Satan was a liar from the beginning, and his promise 
to man was a deceptive falsehood. It was the first and 
greatest lie ever told to man, as also, the greatest lie 
that ever proceeded from the father of liars ; the death 
of all men is the proof of it. And is it not as great a 
lie, and will it not lead to as great an evil, to tell men 
now that they shall not die ? 



EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT. 129 

Is not the man who preaches the immortality of 
sinners the minister or servant of Satan, who originated 
the falsehood ? The doctrine did not come from God, 
but from the devil, and, whoever preaches it knowingly, 
does, in so doing, perpetuate and promulgate the doctrine 
of the devil. ***»..** 

Numerous and pointed are the passages of Scripture 
that threaten wrath, death, and destruction to the 
wicked. I will quote a few only of the many that con- 
trast the condition of the righteous and wicked. 
" Cease from anger and forsake wrath, fret not thyself 
on anywise to do evil ; for evil-doers shall be cut 
off, but those that wait upon the Lord shall inherit 
the earth."— (Ps. 37 : 8.) 

Now, I ask, when, in the world's history, have God's 
people inherited the earth to the exclusion of the 
wicked ? Never ! neither will the time ever come when 
they shall inherit this earth exclusively. But the time 
will arrive when they shall inherit a better world ; even 
the new Heavens and the new Earth which Christ has 
gone to prepare for them ; the new Jerusalem which 
shall come down from God out of heaven ; not the old 
Jerusalem, which is cursed and doomed to destruc- 
tion. 

Again, Verses 10, 11. " For yet a little whiter and the 
wicked shall not be ; yea, thou shalt diligently consider 
his place, and it shall not be ; but the meek shall inherit 
the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance 
of peace." " Be " signifies to exist. It is said the wicked 
shall not be i. e., shall not exist ; but the meek shall 
inherit the earth. Well, what earth ! the earth from 
which the wicked are excluded, is what the meek shall 
inherit. " Blessed are the meek," said Christ, " for they 
shall inherit the earth." — (Mat. 5 : 5.) 

None can reasonably deny but that all the future 
rewards and punishments which are mentioned in Scrip- 
ture, have reference to the state succeeding the resur- 
rection, and the sum of them is this. The faithful and 
obedient, interchangeably "mentioned as the meek and 
righteous, shall inherit the " new Heavens and the new 



130 THE LIGHT. 

Earth," but the wicked shall have no inheritance, they 
shall be blotted out and perish. 

Again, it is said, the wicked shall consume into 
smoke, " Into smoke shall they consume away." Now, 
I would like to know, how much of a thing is left when 
it is consumed into smoke ? We see the smoke ascend 
from the chimney, but we look again and it is lost for- 
ever — just so the wicked, we are told, they shall be 
destroyed forever. " God shall likewise destroy thee 
for ever, he shall take thee away and pluck thee out of 
thy dwelling-place, and root thee out of the land of the 
living."— (Psalm 52 : 5.) 

It is said, also, " The righteous shall dwell in the 
land, and the perfect shall remain in it, but the wicked 
shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors 
shall be rooted out of it,"— (Prov. 2 : 22.) 

Again, " Behold the day cometh that shall burn as an 
oven, and all the wicked shall be stubble, and the day 
cometh that shall burn them, saith the Lord of hosts, 
and it shall leave them neither root nor branch." 

When anything susceptible of being burned by fire, is 
burned up root and branch, nothing is left of it ; so shall 
it be with the wicked, they shall be utterly destroyed. 

John Baptist compares the righteous and wicked 
to wheat and chaff ; referring to Christ, he says, " Whose 
fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his 
floor, and gather his wheat into the garner, but the 
chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." 

How long would dry chaff exist in unquenchable fire ? 
The wicked, compared here to chaff, will be burned up, 
unless they can quench the fire, but God's fire none can 
quench ; and, because it is unquenchable, it will devour 
that for which it is kindled. 

Peter says, " The day of the Lord will come as a 
thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass 
away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt 
with fervent heat, the earth, also, and the works that are 
therein shall be burned up." " Nevertheless, we (the 
righteous), according to his promise, look for new Hea- 
vens and new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness," or 



EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT. 131 

wherein the righteous shall dwell. It is in this grand 
conflagration that all the wicked shall consume away 
into smoke, while the righteous are at rest and safe in 
their eternal home — a thousand years before this 
happens. 

But the objector will still say, It is of the body only 
that these things can be said, as it is that only that can 
be destroyed. " The soul is an immaterial principle 
which cannot he destroyed.*' An immaterial principle, 
is immaterial nonsense ; for principle does not relate to 
matter, and, therefore, has neither length, breadth, size, 
weight, color, or taste. Principle has no substance and 
therefore is not a being. 

To say the soul is an immaterial principle, is to say, 
it is nothing ; yet, if the right meaning of the Greek word 
for soul, which is life, is understood, the term is not at 
all improper ; for life is a principle, law or state of 
being just in the same sense that death is a state of 
non-existence ; no one pretends to call death a being, 
and it would be as just to term it such, as to call soul 
or life a being ; both are immaterial and cannot be 
burned, because they have no substance, and are in 
themselves nothing. 

Life or soul has only a relative existence, just as 
death has ; they exist only in relation to beings, but 
are not beings themselves ; they hold a like relation to 
each other that truth and falsehood do ; and as truth is 
opposed to falsehood, so life is opposed to death. * * * 

Jesus Christ says he is able to destroy both soul and 
body in hell. Now be it remembered that Christ does 
not say he will preserve either soul or body in hell — they 
are not cast there for that purpose. Hell is not a place 
to pickle and preserve, but a place of destruction. The 
grave, improperly translated hell, is not a place to keep 
living beings, but the place of the dead — it is death 
itself. 

The death that one man may inflict on another destroys 
his bodily organization ; but Christ the Redeemer or Life- 
giver can restore the life which man has temporairly de- 
stroyed : " ye are dead," said Paul," and your lives are hid 



• 132 THE LIGHT. 

with Christ in God ; when he who is our life shall ap- 
pear, then we shall appear with him in glory." Christ 
will redeem all souls — or lives — from the grave or hell — 
this is a power which man has not — but the wicked shall 
be returned to hell with all the nations that forget God. 
This is the critical meaning of the Hebrew. " Ya-shu-voo- 
re-sha-em Lish-o-lah" — the wicked shall be turned 
back into hell. 

Over the present mortal life man has power ; but over 
that life eternal, which Christ will give to all who con- 
fide in him, man has not power. 

Those who are worthy of that life and the resurrection 

from among the dead can die no more 

Christ told his disciples to fear not men who had no 
power over the life or soul, which he would raise from 
the dead with a better body than that which man killed. 

The present death is what man can only inflict. From 
that death Christ can redeem those who suffer with him ; 
but from the second death — which God inflicts — there is 
none can redeem, and, therefore, it is eternal. This is 
how<rod will destroy both soul and body in hell (sheolah). 
Hence it is said : "Blessed and holy is he that hath part 
in the first resurrection ; on such the second death hath 
no power." — Rom. 20 : 6. 

Now the terms first and second death are relative 
terms, pointing out the order in which the event occurs. 
They in all cases depend on the supposed or actual ex- 
istence of each other. A second death supposes a first 
death and a first death supposes a second death. . . 

Death is the destruction of life, its negative — absence 
of life. Death must always be preceded by life. Nothing 
can die & first death till it has lived & first life. Death has 
no meaning only as the destroyer of life ; for nothing can 
die that has not life, as the loss of life is death. A first 
and second death must, therefore, be preceded by a 
first and second life. 

It is as proper to call the rewards of the Gospel first 
and second life, as to call the penalties of the law first 
and second death ; as without the scheme of redemption 
no one could have lived a first life or died a second death. 



EVEKLASTING PUNISHMENT. 133 

The penalty of God's law for original sin is death — 
not first, but death absolute and unconditional. " The 
wages of sin is death. " " The soul that sinneth it shall die. 
" Dving thou shalt die, and to dust shalt thou return." 

The sentence, " The soul that sinneth it shall die," must 
have reference to the second death, as the first death is 
unconditional in reference to all — both the righteous and 
the wicked suffer alike the penalty of Adam's trans- 
gression. 

Moral character shields none from first death,, not even 
those who have not sinned after the similitude of Adam's 
transgression. That is, those children, who have not com- 
mitted actual sin, even they die in Adam ; for their 
death establishes, beyond contradiction, the fact of their 
being sinners, yet they have not committed any willful 
or known sin, as sin means the transgression of law : to 
be subject to law we must know what the law is, or at 
least have the means of knowing, else justice would not 
hold us accountable. Children are not conscious of 
transgression — neither do they, strictly speaking, trans- 
gress, as to them no law is personally given ; yet their 
death proves their transgression : for " the wages of sin 
is death." 

Their sin, therefore, must have been committed for 
them, and, as consistent with the goodness and justice of 
God, they die for a sin of which they are passively igno- 
rant, so also, consistent with the same goodness and 
justice, they are saved through a righteousness of which 
they are passively ignorant. " As in Adam all die, even 
so in Christ shall all be made alive." Therefore, as in 
Adam all die without regard to moral character, even 
so in Christ shall all be made to live again without 
reference to their moral character. 

Enoch and Eljah were translated that they should not 
see death, and the righteous, who shall be living at Christ's 
second coming, shall be translated and glorified as they 
were. These are exceptions, and the only ones, which 
divine wisdom has revealed. The rest of Adam's posterity 
with Adam himself are slumbering in death and waiting 
the resurrection. 
]2 



134 THE LIGHT. 

It is said of Christ that he died once for us, because 
he can die no more. " Death has no more dominion over 
him ;" but man may die more than once for sin. 

JSTow as there is no escape from death for Adam's sin, 
when the law and Gospel threaten man thus uncondition- 
ally, and without reprieve, doomed to die — " the soul that 
sinneth it shall die" — it is evident the threatening must 
have reference to the second death — that is, the death for 
actual transgression : for a threatening with death for a 
sin from which there is no escape from death would have 
no meaning. Or in plainer words, as in Adam all die un- 
conditionally for original sin, and the Bible threatens 
death for actual sin, it follows that none can die for the 
sin of actual transgression till he is raised from the death 
of original sin. 

The Bible teaches that there will be a resurrection, 
first of the just, and second of the unjust, to precede the 
second life of each class. It must be during the second 
life of the wicked that their death, as the wages for actual 
transgression, takes place — aud in relation to the death 
for original sin, or first death, it is properly called " the 
second death. 11 This is death final, and " the everlasting 
punishment of the wicked." 



CHAPTER XII. 
THE DIFFERENT ORDERS OF RESURRECTION. 

Having shown that the doctrine of Gentilism cannot 
be reasonably maintained from. those texts which have 
long been patented for the special edification of the 
pious faithful, I shall lay before the reader a reason- 
able and comprehensive view of the doctrine taught in 
the loth chapter of Paul's 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, 
a chapter conceded by all to be devoted especially to 
the subject of the resurrection. If the apostle believed 
that the resurrection meant what Gentilism teaches, viz., 
that the soul which fled off somewhere at death, and the 
body that was buried, shall again be reunited, we may 
expect to find it stated in some part of this chapter ; for 
surely divine Wisdom would not omit a fact of so great 
importance (if a fact it is), while instructing believers 
in a special manner on the subject of" death, and resur- 
rection from death. 

I presume it will be admitted that Paul, in this chap- 
ter, taught the true doctrine concerning the resurrec- 
tion of the dead, and we shall presently see what he did 
teach respecting it. 



THE OCCASION OF WRITING ON THIS SUBJECT TO THE 

CORINTHIANS. 

Though the apostle taught the Corinthians over eight- 
een months, yet for many reasons which I cannot now 
enter into, the religious knowledge of the disciples was 



136 THE LIGHT. 

Imperfect when he left them. And in view especially of 
the corrupt morals and foolish superstitions of heathen- 
ism, which they were from youth trained to believe, 
they were more liable than some others to be deceived 
by any impostor who came among them, as the event 
showed. For we learn from many other parts of Holy 
Scripture that, after the apostle was gone, a false 
teacher, who was a Jew by birth (2 Cor. 1 : 22), came 
to Corinth with letters of recommendation (2 Cor. 3 : 
1), probably from the brethren in Judea ; for which 
reason he is called a false apostle (2 Cor. 11:13), 
having been sent forth by men. This teacher was of 
the sect of the Sadducees (See 1 Cor. 15 : 12), and of 
some note on account of his birth (2 Cor. 5 : 16, 17), 
and education ; being, perhaps, a scribe learned in the 
law.— (1 Cor. 1:20.) 

He seems to have been well acquainted with the charac- 
ter, manners, opinions, and tastes of the Greeks ; for he 
insinuated himself on the Corinthians by affecting, in his 
discourses, that eloquence of which they were very 
fond ; and he also suited his doctrines to their pre- 
judices, and his precepts to their practices. For 
example : 

The theology of the learned heathen was precisely 
what is taught in our colleges at present (being bor- 
rowed of them), that man is a compound being made up 
of body and soul ; that the body is the prison of the 
soul, from which it is to be delivered at death. This 
heathen theology the ancient Pharisees adopted, having 
added one article thereto, viz., That the body would be 
reproduced, and finally reunited to the soul, and 
this they falsely called " the hope of Israel.' 1 But 
ancient Gentilism was more consistent than the modern, 
for they rejected this Pharisaic article, as not only 
injurious to their ideal soul, but in itself absurd ; hence, 
they called the Pharisaic hope, " the hope of worms ; a 
filthy and abominable thing which God neither will nor 
can do." — (Celsus, lib. 5, p. 240.) 

The Sadducees denied the doctrines both of the hea- 
then and Pharisees, and taught the total annihilation 



THE DIFFERENT ORDERS OF RESURRECTION. 137 

of man in death. This false teacher, therefore, to 
render his gospel acceptable to the heathen, denied the 
resurrection, and contended that the only resurrection 
promised by Christ had already passed. — (2 Tim. 2 : 18.) 

But Paul's authority as an apostle stood in the light 
of his ambition, and hindered the spread of his errors ; 
hence, in order to lessen the apostle in the estimation of 
his friends, he represented him as one who had neither 
the bodily nor mental abilities necessary to an apostle. 
His presence, he said, was mean, and his speech con- 
temptible (2 Cor. 10 :10). He found fault with his 
birth and education, contended that he was not an 
apostle, because he had not attended Christ during his 
earthly ministry, and said, the reason why Paul de- 
manded no salary, and refused to accept any mainte- 
nance from them, was his consciousness that he was not 
an apostle, etc. 

During Paul's second abode in Jerusalem (Acts 18 : 
21), some of the family of the house of Chloe, and also a 
member of the church in Corinth, and one who adhered 
to Paul, told him of the state of things as they existed 
in Corinth.— (1 Cor. 1 :11.) 

To remedy all existing evils, and teach the true 
doctrine respecting death, and the resurrection from 
death, in compliance with the request of the Corinthi- 
an church, who had dispatched three persons with a 
letter to the apostle, he wrote this first epistle to the 
Corinthians from Ephesus. — (1 Cor. 16 :8.) 

Having referred to, and decided all the questions 
which the Corinthians asked Paul in their letter, he 
leaves the most important for the last — namely, The re- 
surrection of the dead. And as the resurrection of the 
dead was in all ages the great object of pious hope, the 
apostle, in this 15th chapter, set before the Corinthians 
and all mankind the proof by which the event is 
rendered unquestionable ; it is a necessary consequence 
of the resurrection of Christ. 
12* 



138 THE LIGHT. 

THE SUBJECTS CONTAINED IN THE 15TH CHAP. OF 1ST 

CORINTHIANS. 

(I). To lay a solid foundation for the proofs he was 
about to produce, before he commences to show the con- 
nection there exists between the resurrection of Christ 
and the resurrection of all mankind, he reminded the 
Corinthians of the arguments by which he convinced 
them of the resurrection of Christ, when he first came 
amongst them. And to make them sensible of the facts 
by which he had proved the resurrection of Christ, he 
told them that they constitute the principal articles of 
the Gospel — v. 1. That they were the things which he 
first of all had delivered to them ; and that he himself 
had received them first by revelation ; namely, that 
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures — 
v. 3. — And that, as one known to be really dead, he was 
buried, and that he rose from the dead the third day ac- 
cording to the Scriptures, v. 4. — That after his resur- 
rection he was seen of the Apostle Peter ; then of the 
twelve, while they were assembled together on the even- 
ing of the day on which he arose, and again in eight 
days afterwards, v. 5. — That he was seen of above five 
hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part were 
living at the time Paul wrote his letter, v. 6. — That 
after this he was seen of James, then of all the Apostles 
immediately before he ascended to heaven, v. 7. — And 
last of all that he was seen of Paul himself at different 
places and at different times, v. 8. 

[As Christ was publicly put to death and buried, that 
part of Scriptural prediction respecting him needed no 
proof : but as his resurrection was not so public, and 
being denied by the Jews, it required strong proof. And 
let me here observe, that if there is any force in the con- 
curring testimony of many reliable and disinterested wit- 
nesses to induce men to believe, no statement ever made 
in any age or country is better authenticated than the 
fact of Christ's resurrection.] 

(II). The apostle having, by the testimony of eye- 
witnesses, established beyond the power of successful con- 



THE DIPFERENT ORDERS OF RESURRECTION. 139 

trad icti on the resurrection of Christ, and consequently 
the resurrection of all, he proceeds in the second place 
to show that to deny the resurrection of the dead is to 
deny that Christ has risen, v. 13. 

(III). He goes on to show that to believe in the resur- 
recton of the dead through Christ, is very reasonable : for, 
as consistent with the justice and goodness of God, death 
was brought upon all men through the disobedience of 
one man — so also it is consistent with the justice and 
goodness of God that the life they have lost shall be re- 
stored to all men through the obedience of one man, v. 22. 

(IV). He showed the order, in the divine arrange- 
ment, in which this should be accomplished. (1). 
Christ's resurrection, wuiich is already past, is the first 
and only fruit thus far from death. (2). They that 
are Christ's believing people of all ages shall be raised 
from death when he shall come the second time to enter 
on his reign of millennial glory ; for they shall reign 
with Christ in the New Jerusalem, or heavenly kingdom, 
during three hundred and sixty-five thousand years 
before the general resurrection takes place. 

(3). The last or general resurrection is brought to 
pass, after which the judgment shall take place, when 
those who have died, innocent children, and the pious 
heathen (see Rom. 8 : 21), shall be separated fro.n 
among the wicked and brought to enjoy eternal glory 
with the just by faith. 

[For be it known that in the Scriptural phraseology 
and meaning there is a difference between the just by faith 
and the just in Christ, while both are just in Christ only, 
yet the former is active, w T hile the latter is passive, and 
this distinction is clearly marked in the New Testa- 
ment.] And when God, by Christ, shall have subjected 
all rule and government opposed to his own (by their 
utter destruction), then Christ himself will give up his 
kingly rule, and become subject to the Father, who shall 
henceforth be the object of worship of all intelligent 
creatures in all parts of the universe, verse 21-28. — For 
no being, contrary or opposed to the nature and attri- 
butes of God, shall have eternal existence, and nothing 



140 THE LIGHT. 

but praise shall resound in all the harmonious universe. 
No devil nor wicked spirit shall have being. 

V. He shows the possibility of the resurrection, from 
the daily appearance of nature — the reproduction of 
seed, and preservation of animals, and of bodies terres 
trial and celestial — the regulation and exact order of all 
which is as great a display of omnipotent power as the 
reproduction of a dead man. At this period of his dis- 
course the apostle takes occasion to disclose a secret 
not hitherto known, concerning the kind of nature with 
which the wicked are raised at their resurrection. 

He tells us that as the earthy man Adam was corrupt- 
ible and liable to death, so also the wicked shall be 
raised with an earthy nature like Adam's — and as the 
heavenly man Christ now is, glorious and immortal, such 
also shall the righteous be when they are raised. This 
we shall show more fully hereafter — v. 35-48. 

YI. Sixth and lastly, he reveals a secret not hith- 
erto known to the Corinthians, namely : — That the 
righteous, who are living on this earth when Christ shall 
come the second time, shall not die, but shall be changed 
— made immortal, and caught up or ascend to the 
heavenly kingdom tog ether with the righteous dead, and 
so remain forever with the Lord in heaven, v. 53. — 
See also 2d Thessalonians, chap. 4 : 13 to the end ; and 
John 14 : 3 : and John 17 : 24. 



THE 15TH CHAPTER OF PAUL'S FIRST EPISTLE TO THE 
CORINTHIANS COMPREHENSIVELY READ. 

[The words in italics are the words of the text and in the 
same order as laid down in the Bible; the other words are 
supplied to make sense. The words in small capitals are 
words of the text altered, but which do no violence to the 
text, but, on the contrary, greatly improve its grammatical 
construction.] 

(1) Moreover, brethren, I understand that some 
among you deny the resurrection of the dead, and thus 



THE DIFFERENT ORDERS OF RESURRECTION. 141 

overthrow the Gospel hope, as you will clearly see 
when i" declare again unto you the Gospel which I 
first preached unto you, which also ye have (then) re- 
ceived and wherein ye stand ; that is, in the hope of 
which many of you persevere. 

(2) By which Gospel also ye are saved — ye have 
the knowledge and means of salvation bestowed on 
you, if ye keep in memory what I 'preached unto you; 
unless ye have believed in vain, as represented by the 
false teacher, 

(3) For I delivered to you first of all, that which I 
also received by revelation ; first of all, as the most 
important, how that Christ died for our sins according 
to the prophecy of the Holy Scriptures. — Psalms 22 : 
15. Isaiah 53 : 5, 6. Daniel 9 : 26. Zecharias 13 : 7. 

(4) And that, as one known to be really dead, he was 
buried, and that he rose again the third day, accord- 
ing to the predictions of the Holy Scriptures. — Psalm 
2 : 7 ; 16 : 10. Isa. 53 : 10. Hos. 6 : 2. 

(5) And that he was seen alive of Peter, then oj 
the twelve, while met together in one place. 

(6) After that, he was seen of above five hundred 
brethren at once ; of whom the greater part remain, 
(are alive) unto this present moment, but some are 
fallen asleep, that is, some have died. 

(7) After that, he was seen of the Apostle James ; 
then, again, of all the Apostles, when he ascended in 
their presence to heaven. 

(8) And after them all, he was seen of me also, as 
one born out of due time. That is, I myself saw him 
unexpectedly, as one miraculously born an apostle — 
one made out of the regular order. 

To be a regularly constituted apostle, it was neces- 
sary the man should be called, and commissioned by 
Christ. Paul was thus called, and commissioned by 
Christ personally, but not when it was by any one 
expected an apostle was to be made. Paul's call and 
commission was extraordinary ; but it was none the less 
real because it was out of the natural or regular order — 
because he was called and sent by Christ in a special 



142 THE LIGHT. 

manner. This is the reason he calls himself an Apostle 
" horn out of due time.'" His commission was as 
natural as the birth either of Isaac or John Baptist, 
and both these men were born out of due time. 

They were really begotten of their parents and born 
in the natural order ; but it was after all expectation 
had ceased on the part of their parents, that they would 
have any children ; just so was the case of Paul's 
call and commission — his conversion and appointment to 
the apostolical office took place at a period when no 
one expected it : hence, was he " horn out of due 
time. 11 

(9) For I am, in my own estimation, the least of the 
Apostles, and am not worthy to he called an 
Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. 

(10) But, hy the grace of God, I am the apostle 
that I am ; and his grace of apostleship, inspiration, 
and miraculous power which was hestowed upon me, 
was not in vain ; for, as an apostle, I" have labored 
more assiduously than they ail ; yet, my success is 
not to be ascribed to me, but to the grace of God which 
was with me . 

(11) Therefore, although my call to the apostleship 
was different from the other apostles, yet, our Gospel is 
the same ; for whether I or they preach, so, as I have 
above described, we preach concerning Christ, and so 
ye at. first believed. 

(12) Now, then, if Christ be preached by all the 
apostles, that he rose from among the dead, and if this 
be a proof of the resurrection of all, how say some 
among you, that there is no resurrection of the dead 
to be expected ? 

(13) To deny the resurrection of the dead, is to deny 
the resurrection of Christ ; for if there be no resurrec- 
tion of the dead, then Christ is not risen. 

(14) And if Christ has not risen, then is our 
preaching concerning him vain, although we do work 
miracles in support of what we say ; and your faith in 
his promises, and that he was put to death as a pro- 
pitiatory sacrifice for your sins, is also vain. 



THE DIFFERENT ORDERS OF RESURRECTION. 143 

(15) Yea, and if Christ has not risen, we, who affirm, 
that God has called and commissioned us to preach him 
to the world as alive and risen from death, are found 
false ivitnesses of God ; because we have testified of 
God that he has raised up Christ, whom he raised not 
up, if it so be that the dead rise not. 

(16) So thoroughly do I wish this to be fixed in your 
minds, that I shall repeat what I have said in verse 13. 
For if the dead rise not, then Christ is not raised. 

(17) And, furthermore, if Christ be not raised up, 
then he is a deceiver, he has promised what has not 
taken place, and your faith in his death, as an atone- 
ment for sin, is vain ; ye are yet in your sins, ye are 
still under the guilt and curse of your sins, and " as 
the wages of sin is death," and having no hope of a 
resurrection, ye shall perish. 

(18) Then they also who have fallen asleep in 
Christ are perished. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; all 
the Patriarchs and Prophets who have died in hope of 
the promised Messiah ; yea, and those also who have 
suffered death for their belief in the resurrection of 
Christ, and sleep in the hope of being raised by him 
in glory, have all been deceived, and are all perished (!). 

(19) And in addition to all I have above mentioned, 
If in this life only, we apostles have hope of advan- 
tage for preaching Christ ; then surely, we, the fr^mers 
and promulgators of so great a falsehood, are of all 
men most to be pitied. We have framed a lie, and 
we have sacrificed all worldly prospects to promulgate 
it, and the only fruit that we can reap, is the daily per- 
secutions which we endure. This mode of ironical 
argument must have been as cutting as it was convinc- 
ing to the Corinthians. 

(20) But now, let me say to you, your faith is not 
vain, neither is your hope vain ; neither shall the dead 
in Christ perish ; nor yet is our hope in Christ con- 
fined to this life ; for Christ is really risen from among 
the dead, and has become the first fruits of them that 
sleep in hope. 

(21) And to believe in the resurrection of all the 



144: THE LIGHT. 

dead through Christ is very reasonable ; for since, con- 
sistent with the justice and goodness of God, by the 
transgression of one man came death, or death was 
brought upon all men, even so, it is consistent with the 
justice and goodness of God, that by the obedience of 
one man came also the hope or foundation of the resur- 
rection of all the dead. — See Rom. 5 : 12 ; 18, 19. 

(22) Therefore as by Adam's transgression all 
men die ; even so, or in like manner, by Christ's 
obedience shall all men be made alive. 

[Now, from the Apostle's reasoning, nothing appears 
plainer to my mind than that as in Adam all men sin- 
ned and died before they were begotten, so in Christ the 
same number paid the penalty of Adam's transgression, 
and consequently had a prospective resurrection before 
they had being.] 

(23) But all men will not be made alive and raised 
from death at the same time, but every man will be 
raised in his own order. That is, in the order to which 
he belongs. 1. Christ the first fruits — he is already 
raised to glory (see verse 20). 2. In order, shall be 
they that are Christ's believing people of all ages, and 
who have suffered for, and with him, they shall be raised 
at his second coming. 

[See Rom. 8:17, where Paul shows that the children 
of God are joint-heirs with Christ, and shall, if they 
suffer with Christ, be glorified together with him. This 
has reference to the glory that shall surround Christ 
when he shall come to raise the righteous dead, that they 
may reign with him as his subjects, 365,000 years in 
the heavenly kingdom — the new Jerusalem, not the old. 

(24) 3. Then cometh the end of Christ's reign ; and 
the third order of resurrection shall take place when 
" the dead, small and great, shall stand before God," 
(Rev. 20 :12, 13). When he (Christ) shall have de- 
livered up the kingdom to God, even the Father ; and 
when he (God the Father) shall have put down all rule, 
and all authority, and power opposed to his own by 
their utter destruction. Thus shall God, through Christ, 
destroy every opposing power, that is, every being 



THE DIFFERENT ORDERS OF RESURRECTION. 145' 

opposed to the nature, and attributes, and government 
of God. 

(25) For, according to God's promise to Christ, 
(Ps. 110,) he must reign till he (God) hath put all 
enemies under his (Christ's) feet, by their utter 
destruction. 

(26) The last and greatest enemy of man, that shall 
be destroyed, is death. 

Death, by a figure of speech, is in this instance per- 
sonified as a ruler having power over mankind ; but 
Christ shall destroy death, by restoring life to every one 
who was subject to his reign. 

(27) What I have said respecting the nature and 
duration of Christ's kingdom, and his delivering it up 
to the Father is agreeable to Ps. 8:6. For he hath 
put all things under his feet. But when he, the 
Psalmist, saith all things are under him, it is under- 
stood that he (God) is excepted, who did put all 
things under him, Christ, consequently, that God 
always was, is, and ever shall remain the supreme 
ruler of the universe. 

(28) And when all things shall be subdued unto 
him, Christ, and when there is no longer any need of a 
Prophet to teach, or a Priest to atone, or a King to rule 
under God ; then shall the Son also himself be subject 
unto him that put all things under him, that God may 
be all in all. When all the dispensations and pur- 
poses of God respecting man are accomplished, through 
the man Christ Jesus, God the eternal shall assume 
the government of all beings in all places, and be the 
immediate object of their obedience and eternal ado- 
ration. 

(29) Unless it be true, as I told you in the 22nd 
verse, that by Christ all the dead shall be brought to 
life, and in the 25th and 26th verses, that he must 
reign till the end of his millennial glory, after which, 
death, the last enemy of man, shall be destroyed by the 
resurrection of all the dead, what shall they do who are 
baptized for the dead ; baptized to symbolize death 
and the resurrection ; if the dead rise not at all, why 

13 



146 THE LIGHT. 

then are they baptized for the representation of death, 
and the resurrection from death ? See Eom. 6 : 3, 4, 
where the apostle expressly explains the mode and 
meaning of baptism. " Know ye not that so many of 
us as were baptized into Christ," in contradistinction 
to all that were baptized into John, " were baptize^ 
into ,5 the likeness of " his death." " Therefore, we are bu- 
ried with him by baptism into " the likeness of " death," 
that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the 
power of the Father, so we also, being raised from the 
water as the emblem of the grave, "should walk in new- 
ness of life," for, if we have been " planted together" in 
baptism, u into the likeness of his death, we shall also" 
be raised " in the likeness of his resurrection.''" Peter 
also teaches (1 Pet. 3 : 21) that baptism is the figure or 
representation of our death and resurrection ; but 
the sprinkling or pouring of a few drops of water on 
the believer, or unbeliever, as is often done, destroys 
both the beauty and significance of this Christian 
ordinance. 

(30) And if the resurrection of the dead be a false- 
hood, why stand we in jeopardy every hour. Why do 
we, apostles, expose ourselves to death daily for preach- 
ing it ? 

(31) I protest by your rejoicing which I have in 
Clirist Jesus our Lord — I die daily ; or, literally, by 
my rejoicing, because of your faith in Christ Jesus, 
(who have not forsaken the truth), I am daily in 
danger of being put to death for preaching the resur- 
rection of the dead. 

(32) If after the manner of barbarous men, I have 
fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, being compelled to 
do so for preaching the resurrection, what is the ad- 
vantage of that combat to me, if the dead rise not? I 
had better follow the maxim of the wicked, who say, 
let us eat and drink sumptuously while we live, for to- 
morrow we die, and that is our final end. 

(33) Be not deceived, evil communications corrupt 
good manners. 

(34) Awake to righteousness and sin not any 



THE DIFFERENT ORDERS OF RESURRECTION. 147 

longer under the impression that there is no future life, 
or account where rewards and punishments shall be 
dealt out. For some have not the knowledge of God, 
I speak this to your shame. I speak this to the shame 
of those, who — because, of their ignorance of the power 
of God — deny the resurrection of the dead. 

(35) But some one will object and say : How is it 
possible that the dead can be raised up ? some of whom 
are consumed by fire — some eaten of worms, or converted 
into the bodies of other beings — and, if it be possible to 
raise them, with what body do they come from the 
grave V or, in plainer words, what is the likeness of the 
body with which they are raised from the grave ? 

[The reader will observe here that the question is as 
to what sort of body the dead are to be raised with. 
And let me ask the reader at this particular point 
whether he understands the word dead as synonymous 
with soul, or spirit ? If so, then the soul or spirit, which- 
ever he will have it, is here represented as coming from 
the grave ; for it is said to be raised up, and it is also 
represented as dead. If Paul understood that man had 
a soul, and that said soul at death flew off to heaven or 
any other region, his language would have been very 
different — he would ask what sort of body shall be raised 
up for the soul. But the truth is, from the hour of his 
conversion at least, Paul believed no such nonsense, and 
is it not very remarkable that, in the whole of this chapter, 
neither the word soul nor spirit is once mentioned as 
distinct from body, because no such thing exists in man.] 

(36) Thou art foolish to think the resurrection im- 
possible for such reasons ; for things equally mysteri- 
ous and impossible happen daily around you — that seed 
which thou sowest is not quickened except it first rot. 

(37) And, in reference to that which thou sowest, thou 
sowest not that very body that shall be produced, but 
bare grain — grain without stalk, blade, or ear — your 
grain may, perhaps, be of wheat, or of some of the va- 
rious other kinds of grain that are all, however, different 
from each other : 

(38) But the greatness of God's power is seen in 



148 THE LIGHT. 

giving to the bare grain a body consisting of blades, 
stalk, and ear, in form as it hath pleased him, and to 
every seed its own body, that is, the body proper to 
its kind. 

(39) God's power is in like manner displayed in pre- 
serving the distinction of the flesh of animal bodies ; for 
all flesh is not the same kind of flesh ; but there is 
one kind of flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts , 
and another of fishes, and another of birds. 

(40) God displays the greatness of his power in the 
formation of other bodies, also ; for, there are also ce- 
lestial bodies — the sun, moon, and stars — and bodies 
terrestrial, such as fossils and minerals ; but the glory of 
the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is 
another. That is, very different is the light and use of 
the celestial bodies, and different also is the beauty and 
use of the terrestrial bodies. 

(41) For example, the brightness of the sun is of 
one kind, and the brightness of the moon is of another, 
and the brightness of the stars is of another kind ; for 
one star differs from another star in brightness. 

(42) From this example of God's power in the pre- 
servation of the various bodies celestial and terrestrial, 
and their distinction, I wish to illustrate the difference 
there shall be in the nature of the resurrected dead ; for 
so also is the resurrection of the dead. With respect 
to the kind of body with which the righteous, of whom 
I now speak particularly, shall be raised — like the grain 
of seed mentioned in verse 36, it is sown in corruption ; 
it is raised in incorruption. That is, the righteous 
dead is laid in the grave corruptible, and, like the grain 
of seed, it rots — but in the reproduction or resurrection 
it is raised incorruptible, not subject again to muti- 
lation or death. 

(43) It is sown in the grave in dishonor — dishon- 
ored by death : it is raised out of the grave glorious 
in beauty : it is sown in weakness, through disease, 
death, and mutilation : it is raised in power — it is raised 
with life and immortal vigor. 

(44) It is sown, like the grain of seed, a natural body 



THE DIFFERENT ORDERS OF RESURRECTION. 149 

such as it derived from Adam, subject to mortality and 
corruption in death : it is raised a supernatural or 
spiritual body. 

[Christ told Nicodemus, that a man must be born of 
water and of the Spirit before he could see the kingdom 
of God ; and that as the wind moved where it listed with 
great velocity and power, so can every one that shall be 
born of the Spirit of God. — See John 3 : 5, 8. Christ, 
on more than one occasion, called the Gospel water. — 
See John 4 : 10-14 ; 7 : 38. A man is born of water 
when he receives the Gospel in an honest heart, and he 
is born of the Spirit in the resurrection of the just. The 
righteous, therefore, of whom Paul in this particular 
section is speaking, are in the resurrection born of the 
Spirit, and therefore with a spiritual body, possessing the 
life, likeness, and spiritual nature of Christ's glorified 
body.] 

(45) As I have mentioned (in the 23rd verse), that 
there are to be two orders of resurrection — the just and 
the unjust — so there are two orders or kinds of body to 
be raised — a natural and a spiritual body — and this is 
also agreeable to the ancient scriptures ; for so it is 
written (Gen. 2:7; Rom. 5 : 14 ; John 5 : 21) the first 
man, Adam — literally Adam the First, from whom all 
mankind have derived their natural body and existence 
— was made of the dust a living soul. 

[Let the reader observe that a living soul was not 
made for him, as Gentilism says.] 

The last Adam, or Adam the Second, Christ, was not 
made of the dust but of the quickening spirit — literally 
of the quick spirit — i. e., of the spirit of life that quick- 
eneth all things. 

(46) In the resurrection, there is that difference to be 
between the bodies of the righteous and the wicked that 
was between the natural body of Adam the First and the 
supernatural body of Adam the Second. Howbeit, that 
was not first which is spiritual, but that which is na- 
tural ; and afterward that which is spiritual. Hence, 
as in the order of time, Adam's natural body preceded 
Christ's spiritual body, as also, in reference to Christ 

13* 



150 THE LIGHT. 

himself, so the natural body is first given to the righte- 
ous the same as the wicked, but, by-and-by, they shall 
have their spiritual body which the wicked shall not have. 

(47) The first man, Adam, from whom they derive 
their natural existence and body, is derived of the earth, 
and, therefore, earthy in his nature ; the second man, 
Christ, is not of the earth, but, in his original nature 
and being, is underived — he is the Lord from heaven, 
therefore, heavenly in his nature. 

(48) In the resurrection, therefore, as was the earthy 
man, Adam, liable to mortality and death, such are 
they, also, that are earthy ; all they that have died, 
and shall die, wicked, they shall be raised mortal, and 
liable to the second death, from which there is no resurrec- 
tion ; and as is the heavenly man, Christ, now, such are 
they also (the righteous subjects of the heavenly king- 
dom) that are raised heavenly, immortal, and, therefore, 
incorruptible in their nature, partakers of the nature 
and life of God in Christ, and possessors, by his right 
and title, of eternal glory. 

(49) For, as we, the righteous, have borne the image 
of the earthy man, Adam, through all our present ex- 
istence, so exactly we shall also bear the image of the 
heavenly man Christ during our eternal existence with 
him in the heavenly kingdom. 

(50) Now, this I say, brethren, or my meaning is 
this, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom 
of God. That is, no body made merely of flesh and 
blood can inherit the kingdom of heaven ; or, more 
plainly and literally, no animal body, such as the wicked 
die and are raised in, can inherit heaven. Neither doth 
corruption inherit incorruption. That is, nothing 
that is corruptible, as the wicked are to be raised, 
can exist where everything is incorruptible. 

(51) Behold I show you a mystery, i. e. I reveal to 
you a secret of great importance : We shall not all 
sleep, we, the righteous, shall not all die, but we shall all 
be changed. Such of us as are living at Christ's 
second coming, shall have our corruptible nature made 
incorruptible. 



THE DIFFERENT ORDERS OF RESURRECTION. 151 

(52) This change will take place in a moment, in the 
twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the last trumpet ; 

for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead in Christ 
shall awake, and be raised incorruptible, and we, the 
righteous, who have not died, shall be changed — made 
incorruptible after the righteous dead are raised. 

(53) For, in order to fit us for the heavenly kingdom, 
this corruptible nature must put on incorruption, or, 
become incorruptible ; and this mortal must put on im- 
mortality, i. e., become immortal. 

(54) Now, when this transformation of our nature 
shall have taken place, then shall be brought to pass 
the saying that is written in the book of Isa. 25 : 7, 8 : 
" And he will destroy in this mountain, the face of the 
covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread 
over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory ; 
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all 
faces, and (death) the rebuke of his people shall be 
taken away from off all the earth ; for the Lord hath 
spoken it." 

(55) And the redeemed throng, by the command of 
their Conqueror, shall shout in triumph : O, death, where 
is thy sting ? O, grave, where is thy victory ? 

I have neither room nor need for comment on the 
grand events disclosed in this chapter ; but, as before 
remarked, where is the doctrine of immortal soulism 
even hinted at in this chapter ? Nowhere. 

Were I so situated, in reference to time and means, 
that 1 could write a small volume to illustrate the doc- 
trines here disclosed, I think I would leave very little 
doubt on the reader's mind as to the vanity, unscrip- 
tural, and unreasonable nature of the system of theo- 
logy that passes orthodox currency in our present day 
— a system made up of foolish theories, devoid of all 
practical results, as meaningless as it is bodiless — having 
totally lost sight of man, to grasp at an ideal soul. 
But, as I trust enough has been said in this little work 
to lead the thoughtful to think, I shall say no more at 
present. 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

THE RETROGRESSION OF HUMAN LIFE. 

" And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and 
thirty years : and he died' — Gen. 5 : 5. 

The history of Adam, though brief, is really wonder- 
ful. He was made of the dust of the ground. His 
organization, and symmetry of parts, manifested the per- 
fection of divine wisdom ; for, of all the works of this 
creation, there is nothing so exquisitely beautiful as 
man. He was made to live by breathing. " God 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives, and the man 
became a living soul." 

All the material substance that constituted the man, 
Adam, was • organized — blood, brains, etc. He needed 
an element to put in motion this machinery of which 
he was made up ; this element was the atmospheric air, 
called " the hreath of lives" because, without it, life can- 
not exist ; yet, the air is not itself the life. Life is the 
principle which causes motion. The element of life is 
undefinable ; it emanates from God ; he is the source of 
it. It is in Scripture called the soul, and in some 
instances it is called the spirit. It is not a being, 
but it animates and gives motion to being, as in the 
case of Adam, God communicated it with the air, or 
breath, and the organized man became a living being. 
The principle of life, once communicated to organized 
matter, and prolonged by the respiration of the air 
which surrounds the whole earth, being itself alive, or 
in perpetual motion, could never cease without some 
cause of violence to the organized machinery. 

This is implied in God's charge to Adam, " in the 
day of thy eating — dying, thou shalt die." 

We have before shown, that the earth was cursed, 



THE RETROGRESSION OF HUMAN LIFE. 153 

and became corrupted through Adam's transgression ; 
and that the food, without which he could not prolong 
existence, became the ultimate and infallible cause of 
his death ; and that in death he dissolved into his native 
element, " dust." " Dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou 
return." Adam lived the longest of any of the Patri- 
archs but three — Jered, Methuselah, and Noah — from 
this we may learn the perfection of his organization 
and constitutional strength, as, also, that his habits and 
mode of living were more frugal than the general habits 
of his posterity. 

His son Seth, lived 912 years ; and his son Enos, 
905 ; Cainan, son of Enos, 910 ; Mahalaleel, his son, 
895 ; Jered, the father of Enoch, lived 962. Enoch was 
the father of Methuselah, who lived 969 years ; and 
whose longevity is, doubtless, attributable to the piety 
of his father and grandfather. 

And the fact, that Noah lived 950 years, is also the 
result of his extraordinary piety. He was steady, 
sober, and faithful. * * Shem, Noah's son, only lived 
600 years, and the average of life in those days after 
the flood, was 300 to 400 ; and men lived long or short 
according to their habits of sobriety and frugality. 

Everything which the earth produced before it was 
cursed, was " very good" But after God pronounced 
the curse upon it, it could no longer yield its original 
fruit, but " thorns and thistles" and much of its herb- 
age is fatal to human life ; hence, the legitimate con- 
sequence of excessive and incautious indulgence of 
appetite is premature death ; and the general and no less 
natural or certain, consequence of the corruption of our 
food, is the ultimate death of all men. 

The forcible and unanswerable proof of this fact 
is, the deterioration and retrogression of our race 
since the days of Adam ; and, despite the efforts of medi- 
cal science to the contrary, this course will continue to 
the end. Those who fare sumptuously, generally, if 
at all, labor easily, and die horridly. No man ever 
became more corpulent than nature requires, whose 
physical exercise is equal to his food. 



154 THE LIGHT. 

Corpulency of bulk indicates want of mental energy, 
or opportunity to take physical exercise. Eating too 
much, and working too little, is always a natural con- 
sequence of worldly affluence, and the certain precursor 
of a nation's downfall. 

The Patriarchs' food was more simple and less arti- 
ficial than ours at the present day is. They ate when 
they were hungry, and to satisfy the demands of nature. 

The retrogression of the human race, as regards age 
and size, is what must strike every observer of nature 
with peculiar force. 

There are few, if any of us, equal to our grand- 
parents in size or constitutional strength. The. excep- 
tions are rare where we surpass them * * * * and a few 
isolated cases, we'll say one to a thousand, will never 
hold good against the fact, that, instead of men's living 
900 years, as after the creation, the average now will 
not reach twenty. 

In the patriarchal days, we have no account of the 
death of children ; but go into any of our cemeteries 
and look at the graves and tomb-stones, and you will 
find five-eighths are children under ten years of age — well, 
but, says the objector, what does that argue ? Why, it 
argues this, that the present life of man does not aver- 
age twenty years to the generation. 

Well, then, we will suppose the world, or time, to last 
4,000 years longer, where, I ask, would be the sons of 
Adam? 

They would all be dead, and not one to tell an inhabit- 
ant of another planet, that a race of intelligent beings 
did once live on this earth. 

We have account only of the lives of the Patriarchs 
— doubtless, others lived as long, and perhaps longer, 
than they — from the account given, we may safely aver- 
age the life of man, during the patriarchal age, at 800. 
Well, suppose we could average the present age at 50 
years — which, by common consent, is 20 years over the 
mark— then we see that the human race has deteriorated 
more than 100 to every thousand years since the creation 
of Adam. Making the greatest allowance in favor of 



THE RETROGRESSION OF HUMAN LIFE. 155 

our race, in five hundred years from now, the age of man 
will not exceed ten years. It will be as remarkable then 
to see a man live thirty years as it is now to see a man 
live 100 years. The natural decay of man is much 
greater than we are, at first sight, ready to admit : 
we see it both in childhood and old age. Thousands and 
tens of thousands of children are constitutionally decayed 
at birth, and it is by great care and tenderness they are 
a few years preserved in a dying state ; and if, by extra- 
ordinary care, they should live to get married and beget 
children in their own likeness, they but furnish ready 
food for the worm and lumber for the tomb. 

The decay of nature is peculiarly prominent in aged 
people — so visible is it, indeed, that no person can help see- 
ing it, unless they willingly close their eyes. * * * Behold 
that aged man or woman who totters, and trembles, and 
staggers along as they walk, or rather feel their way, 
and cast back your eyes of memory twenty or thirty 
years and look at them in the full bloom of youth and 
health — gay and thoughtless — anxious only for merri- 
ment and sport — never considering that, in a few short 
years, they would have little if any interest in the things 
that now absorb their whole attention. * * * Ask your- 
self this question : " Is it the same soul which animated 
this person 30 years ago that now animates him ? If it 
be, then surely the soul is changeable — capable of 
growth in strength, wisdom, or weakness. And if the 
soul be capable of these changes, who will dare say that 
it is not capable of death ? — especially seeing God has 
declared, that the soul that sinneth it shall die." — Ezek. 
18 : 4, and 20. 

If man have a soul which is something that is not 
affected by his youth, old age, sickness, infirmity, or 
death, then it can not be affected by his sin. If affected 
by one it is by all. If it be an entity wholly distinct 
from man, then it cannot be affected by man's good or 
evil acts ; but if it be a principle infused in man which 
cannot know, nor feel, nor move, nor act but as he knows, 
and feels, and moves, and acts — then its life, apart from 
man's life, is of no account either to itself or to the man 



156 THE LIGHT. 

who possessed it. All this, of course, is on the suppo- 
sition that man has a soul, which requires better proof 
than the mere assertion. 

Nature and common sense teach us, that if a child have 
a soul, that soul has only the knowledge of a child — the 
strength of a child, the wisdom and life of a child. 
If there was no other book to teach mankind of a future 
state of existence than the Bible — no one would ever 
imagine so foolish and unreasonable an idea as that he 
himself is somebody distinct from himself — some one 
who can and does live, and move, and know, and act — ■ 
feel pain or pleasure, joy or sorrow — when he himself does 
not live, nor move, nor know, nor act, nor feel — and when 
he is alike insensible to pleasure, pain, joy, or sorrow. 
The inconsistency of such notion would appear so glar- 
ingly contradictory to a mind simply influenced and 
guided by Scripture and reason alone, that all the divines 
in Christendom could not get them to receive it ; but 
people are not influenced in religious belief by reason, 
but by fiction or superstitious fears. Hence, when it is 
said, " all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and 
he died," it is not understood that Adam ceased to 
exist, but that he changed, by bursting the shell and 
dropping his body ; while the Adam proper did not die 
at all. But the Bible plainly and significantly teaches 
that the Adam, whom God created and commanded, 
sinned ; and that because he sinned he died ; and that all 
his posterity died in him, etc. 

Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years " dying 
to die" as the original has it ; and as was the case with 
himself individually, so, also, it is with his posterity ; for 
their retrogressive life shows that in him, both indivi- 
dually and collectively, they are " dying to die" 

To redeem Adam and his posterity from the death 
that his transgression brought on them, is why Christ 
became incarnate, lived, died, and rose from death ; for 
" as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be 
made alive." 



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